Copenhagen will strengthen European AI as one of the first round appointed ELLIS Units. Copenhagen is one of 17 units in 10 European countries. DTU, ITU and KU have joined forces to create the Copenhagen ELLIS Unit.
"Winning the status as ELLIS unit is an acknowledgement of the top international level of Danish AI research and a unique platform for promoting Danish AI. ELLIS is not only a network with strong academic ambitions, it has participation from the industriel leaders as well - entering the network as a unit means that Copenhagen is one of the key centers for European AI development. ELLIS will become the catalyst that will develop AI for the benefit of all Danish business sectors, public administration and education," says head of the new Unit professor Ole Winther, DTU Compute and University of Copenhagen.
The European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) is a European network in AI, and it consists of Europe's strongest university research environments in AI and large companies such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Porsche.
"Machine learning is the heart of a technological and societal revolution involving many other technologies, and if Europe is not ahead, it could have major consequences for competitiveness, health and safety."
Professor Ole Winther
The goal of ELLIS is nothing less than to become the leading open scientific AI organization in the world by tying together the strongest research environments in AI in Europe in a network where they can both help each other achieve critical mass and be the beacon of others. Therefore, to be admitted as a unit, stringent requirements are set for the level of the applicant organizations.
A boost to Europe
In this way, ELLIS will deal with the situation where many of the best AI labs, as well as many of the best places to embark on a research career in AI, are currently located in the United States. And where massive AI investments in China and the US can amplify a trend that Europe is lagging behind in the AI field. A trend with worrying consequences for the European development.
"Machine learning is the heart of a technological and societal revolution involving many other technologies, and if Europe is not ahead, it could have major consequences for competitiveness, health and safety," says professor Ole Winther.
The future is diverse
In addition to outstanding academic quality, diversity is a key focus of ELLIS. All entities are committed to initiating initiatives to ensure that the artificial intelligence of the future is created by researchers with expertise that reflect the intended users of the gender, age, national affiliation of the research, etc.
The European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) is a diverse European network that promotes expertise in research and education in AI and aims to boost economic growth in Europe by leveraging AI technologies.
Read ELLIS' press release here.