Four of the five proposals selected for funding under ICT-48-2020 were coordinated by members of CLAIRE (Confederation of Laboratories for Artificial Intelligence Research in Europe), the world's largest network of AI research groups and institutions. These proposals include TAILOR, Humane-AI-Net and AI4Media, which will form large and diverse networks of centers of excellence in AI research, as well as VISION, which will coordinate between these and one additional network selected for funding, in order to position Europe for leadership in human-centric, trustworthy AI. This resounding success in a highly competitive process further strengthens CLAIRE's leading role in shaping the European AI ecosystem.
TAILOR – Network of research centres for foundations of trustworthy AI, led by Prof. Fredrik Heintz from the University of Linköping (Sweden), who also serves as a member of the CLAIRE leadership team, will create a network of research excellence centers on the Foundations of Trustworthy AI. Spanning all of Europe, this network will develop an ambitious research and innovation roadmap for trustworthy AI, leveraging European strengths across all of AI, with particular focus on the integration of learning, reasoning, and optimization techniques. TAILOR will prepare the ground for AI research that addresses grand challenges in health, mobility, and resource management.
HumanE-AI-Net – Research on AI systems that enhance human intelligence, which also includes members of ELLIS (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems), is led by Prof. Paul Lukowicz from DFKI (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, one of the founding members of CLAIRE). HumanE-AI-Net will develop the scientific foundations and technological breakthroughs needed to build AI systems that enhance human intelligence rather than replacing it.
AI4Media – AI for media and society, led by Dr. Yiannis Kompatsiaris, Senior Researcher at the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (Greece) and a prominent member of CLAIRE, will create a network of research excellence centers focussed on the media sector. With members across all of Europe, AI4Media will deliver advances in AI technology to serve this key sector and ensure that ethical, trustworthy AI, guided by European values, will become a globally recognized gold standard.
VISION – Coordination across Europe to achieve critical mass has been selected to coordinate between the new networks of centres of excellence in AI as well as with the European Commission. Led by Prof. Holger Hoos from Leiden University (The Netherlands) and chair of the executive board of CLAIRE, this project is fundamentally based on the vision and goals of CLAIRE.
On 19 February, the European Commission released a whitepaper that outlined a plan adopting all key parts of the vision for excellence in AI unveiled by CLAIRE in June 2018. Now, the resounding success in ICT-48-2020 confirms CLAIRE's leading role in defining and implementing Europe's vision for excellence in AI research and innovation.
Further Reading
- DFKI (16.03.20): CLAIRE receives broad mandate and funding for shaping "AI made in Europe"
- CLAIRE (20.02.20): CLAIRE, the world’s largest network for artificial intelligence research, welcomes new EU plan
- European Commission (19.02.20): White Paper on Artificial Intelligence - A European approach to excellence and trust
