On August 1st, I took over the role as CEO of NORA, with a feeling of thrill and excitement. Half a year has now gone by, and it has been fun and rewarding, with a steep learning curve.
Arendalsuka (15th - 18th August) was my public initiation as a leader, and because it went as well as it did, it was also the highlight of the year for me. I think the AI tent symbolises a lot of what NORA is: national collaboration, coordinated effors, a meeting place and a platform for science-based knowledge sharing. It is important that researchers with deep scientific insights participate in the public debate, and that the research perspective is heard, both by the general public and by decision makers. We really made that happen in the AI tent - we're already looking forward to next year.
Other than that, 2025 has been a busy year in the field of AI. The famed AI billion has been implemented in the form of six new, national AI centres, a maritime AI centre has been established, and there is a lot of exciting reasearch happening both at the universities and in industry - also outside of the largest projects. Googling has become “LLMing”, and the government has established the Malthe-Sørenssen commission to look at the consequences this has for higher education. Karianne Tung and the Ministry of Digitalisation and Public Governance has established KI NORGE, which currently is being set up and will have an important role moving forward.
There is an increased focus on the societal consequences on AI, and NORA is proud of having received support from the Research Council of NOrway for another national research school: NORA HS - Norwegian Graduate School for How AI Impacts Humanities and Society. NORA is now running two research school that combined covers all tracks in the government's AI policy, which shows NORA's dedication to uniting our efforts with those of the government, as well as our strong focus on education and talent development.
Internationally, AI is high-level policy, and policy does to a high degree set the direction for AI development. We are at a crossroads when it comes to what kind of AI we want. During the opening of TRUST, the world-renowned AI researcher Yoshua Bengio came with a clear warning; “we do not want an artificial intelligence that competes with humans”. Norway alone cannot set the direction for AI development, and international collaboration with reliable partners that share our values is therefore becoming increasingly important. This is especially true for the Nordics, which combined consists of around 28 million people, makes up one of the 12 largest economies in the world, and shares values and culture.
In February, we therefore established the Nordic AI Partnership, a collaboration between the academic AI centres/networks in the Nordics. Within this collaboration, we arrange Nordic AI Meet and run the Nordic Machine Intelligence journal. Nordic AI Parnership was also visible when NeurIPS for the first time had a separate European edition, EurIPS. In 2025 we also arranged the Norwegian AI Championship, which in 2026 also will have a Nordic edition when Iceland arranges Nordic AI Meet in 2026. We strongly believe in the Nordic values that makes up the foundation of the Nordic AI Partnership, and will continue working to strengthen Nordic scientific research on AI, promote knowledge exchange and encourage innovation.
The strength of the NORA collaboration may not always be visible on a day-to-day basis for the individual reasearcher, but in the secretariat, we witness the strength that lies in collaboration every day. When the AI research environments come together as one consortium, we are plain and simply stronger; whether when it comes to applications for a tent at Arendalsuka, applications for resarch schools or the established of international collaborations.
Thank you for your commitment, collaboration and will to contribute in the past year. It is inspiring to work with so many people who genuinely want to accomplish something together. I'm looking forward to continue building on this in the year to come, and we in the secretariat are here to create value for the partners.
I'm looking forward to the continuation in 2026, and wish you all a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year.
Michael