MIDAS 2025

About

This one-day workshop is designed to foster meaningful collaboration between researchers and industry practitioners by identifying and addressing complex challenges in the field of Generative AI (GenAI) and Data. These challenges often require a longer-term research perspective while simultaneously needing to remain grounded in real-world constraints and operational scenarios.

The primary goals of this workshop are twofold:

• For Researchers: To inform and shape their research agendas by exposing them to the most pressing, unsolved challenges encountered by industry professionals. This engagement will help ensure that academic research remains relevant and aligned with practical needs, ultimately accelerating the path from theoretical advancements to real-world applications.

• For Practitioners: To gain fresh perspectives and cutting-edge insights from the research community on emerging or unresolved topics in GenAI and Data. By engaging with researchers, industry professionals can explore novel methodologies, validate ideas, and potentially adopt innovative solutions to enhance their work.

We envision this workshop as an interactive and collaborative platform where participants from both academia and industry can share insights, challenges, and advancements in the rapidly evolving domains of GenAI and Data. Through panel discussions, presentations, and breakout sessions, attendees will have the opportunity to:

• Identify Key Industry Challenges: Engage in discussions that highlight the most pressing problems faced in real-world GenAI and data-driven applications.

• Explore Long-Term Research Directions: Examine areas where foundational research can contribute to addressing these challenges.

• Build Cross-Sector Partnerships: Establish meaningful connections between researchers and practitioners, fostering collaborations that can lead to impactful innovations.

• Exchange Practical & Theoretical Insights: Leverage the diverse expertise of participants to bridge the gap between theoretical advancements and their practical implementation.

By bringing together a diverse group of experts, this workshop aims to create a dynamic space where ideas are exchanged, research is informed by industry needs, and groundbreaking solutions can emerge at the intersection of academic rigor and real-world application.

Members of the Organizing Committee

Workshop Co-Chairs

• Avrilia Floratou, Microsoft, USA, avflor@microsoft.com

• Jignesh M. Patel, CMU, USA, jignesh@cmu.edu

• Subru Krishnan, Microsoft, Spain, subru@microsoft.com

Program Committee

• Eugene Wu, Columbia University, USA

• Fatma Ozcan, Google, USA

• Konstantinos Karanasos, META, USA

• Magdalena Balazinska, UW, USA

• Renata Borovica-Gajic, University of Melbourne, Australia

• Samuel Madden, MIT, USA

• Sandeep Tata, Google, USA

• Thaleia Dimitra Doudali, IMDEA, Spain

• Zifan Liu, Adobe, USA

• Yiwen Zhu, Microsoft GSL, USA

• Rashmi Gangadharaiah, Amazon, USA

• Theo Rekatsinas, Axelera AI, Switzerland

• Tilmann Rabl, HPI, Germany

• Guoliang Li, Tsinghua University, China