International speakers, 3–4 public lectures per year: AI, data, and digital systems — accessible, critical, and in dialogue with the public, students, research, and industry.
Ada Lovelace: a short story In the 1840s, Ada Lovelace examined Charles Babbage’s plans for the «Analytical Engine» — and saw in them far more than just a calculating machine. She described how a device could execute a sequence of instructions step by step, and hinted at something even greater: computation as a way of working with symbols, patterns, and ideas. Long before «computer science» existed as a discipline in its own right, she combined mathematical rigor with imagination. It is precisely this combination that we wish to celebrate.
The Ada Lovelace Lecture Series brings outstanding international speakers to HSLU for 3–4 public lectures per year on technologies shaping our world — especially AI, data, and digital systems. The goal is simple: to make cutting-edge ideas accessible, to discuss what they enable (and the risks they bring), and to create a space where students, researchers, industry, and the wider public can learn together.
Each lecture is deliberately designed to be intellectually rigorous yet accessible:
Come for the ideas — and stay for the people. The series is a meeting place for curious minds from a wide range of disciplines: engineering, design, business, health, and beyond. Whether you’re looking for inspiration, expert insights, or new connections, the Ada Lovelace Lecture Series is a place for great questions — and for meeting the people building what comes next.
An evening with Richard Stallman: digital freedom, control over software, and the question of whom our digital systems ultimately serve.
