A Recap of the 2nd International RL Bootcamp 2025: Inspiring the Next Wave of AI Innovators

The city of Salzburg recently buzzed with energy as the 2nd International Reinforcement Learning Bootcamp 2025 came to a successful close. From September 17th to 19th, over 100 participants from 12 different countries gathered for three intense, inspiring, and energizing days dedicated to the world of Reinforcement Learning (RL).

At ExtensityAI, we were incredibly proud to be a partner in an event that so closely aligns with our mission: bridging the gap between cutting-edge AI theory and real-world application. The bootcamp was designed to lower the barriers to entry for RL, empowering students, researchers, and professionals to build and deploy their own intelligent agents with confidence.

From Theory to Practice: A Journey into RL

The atmosphere was electric with curiosity and collaboration. The program masterfully guided attendees from foundational concepts to advanced, hands-on implementation. For many, this was the event where they trained their very first RL agent—a milestone moment in any AI journey.

The curriculum covered a comprehensive range, including:

• Core Lectures: Building a solid foundation with introductions to RL, Markov Decision Processes (MDPs), Policy Gradients, and Actor-Critic methods.

• Hands-On Workshops: A standout session was the guided workshop on "Implementing PPO from Scratch," where participants built a powerful RL algorithm step-by-step.

• Advanced Topics: Deep dives into state-of-the-art techniques like world models, model-based RL, and multi-agent systems.

The result was not just an educational experience but a community one, sparking countless new connections, ideas, and potential collaborations that will undoubtedly shape the future of the field.

A Heartfelt Thank You to the Architects of this Success

An event of this magnitude is only possible through the dedication of many. We extend our immense gratitude to everyone who made it a memorable success.

To the Esteemed Keynote Speakers:

Your insights were a highlight of the bootcamp. Thank you for sharing your expertise:

• Prof. Sergey Levine (UC Berkeley), for his presentation on "Data-Driven Deep Reinforcement Learning: Offline RL and Online Finetuning."

• Prof. Peter Auer (University of Leoben), for his deep dive into "Multi-Armed Bandits and Exploration Strategies."

• Dr. Samuele Tosatto (University of Innsbruck), for his compelling talk, "Where are all the intelligent robots? A quest for efficiency in reinforcement learning."

To the Organizing Committee & Lecturers:

Your tireless work and passion brought this event to life. Thank you to Olga Mironova, Catherine Laflamme, Thomas Gallien, Andreas Windisch, Marius-Constantin Dinu, Leander Grech, and Simon Hirlaender.

To Our Fellow Partners & Supporters:

Collaboration is key to community building. We were honored to support this event alongside a fantastic group of organizations:

• IDA Lab Salzburg & Universität Salzburg

• AI Austria

• Fraunhofer Austria

• JOANNEUM RESEARCH

• DIH West

Missed Out? Catch Up and Dive In!

Whether you're a returning attendee or curious about what you missed, the organizing team has made all the resources publicly available.

• Watch the Recordings:

  • Day 1 Stream

  • Day 2 Stream

  • Day 3 Stream

• Get the Slides & Code:

  • GitHub Repository

• See the Photos:

  • Official Flickr Album

• Visit the Official Website:

  • RL Bootcamp 2025 Home

Stay Connected and Keep the Conversation Going

The learning and networking don't stop here. The RL community continues to thrive online, and you are invited to join!

RL Coffee:

Join the informal online meetup held on the first Friday of every month. It's a perfect place to chat about RL, share projects, discuss recent papers, or simply connect with fellow enthusiasts.

• Sign up for RL Coffee Here

Discord Community:

For more daily interaction, join the AI Is All You Need Discord server.

• Join the Discord Server

Looking Ahead

Whether this bootcamp was a first step or the next leap in your RL journey, we hope everyone left feeling inspired, connected, and ready to build.

At ExtensityAI, we remain committed to supporting and growing the AI community. We look forward to seeing the incredible projects and innovations that emerge from this event.

See you at the next RL Coffee, and here's to meeting again in Salzburg for the RL Bootcamp in September 2026!