With increasing focus on AI, the demand for AI capacity and infrastructure is increasing. Today´s AI infrastructure is scattered and fragmented, with mainly local infrastructure setups. NAIC is a three-year project supported by the Norwegian Research Council that will establish a new national infrastructure for AI in Norway that will foster AI education, research, and innovation.
The Norwegian Artificial Intelligence cloud will connect leading expertise and create a national e-infrastructure with a broad service portfolio tailored to AI needs of academia, public administration and SMEs/large industry. We are really excited to be part of one of the most ambitious AI-related projects in Norway, says Klas H. Pettersen, CEO of NORA.
A number of speakers were present from the NAIC partner´s at the kick-off to talk about NAIC, it´s potential and value for the Norwegian research community. These were Pinar Heggernes (UiB), Sabry Razick (Uio), Gard Thommasen (UiO), Stephan Oepen (UiO), Turgay Celik (UiA) and Klas Pettersen (NORA).
The launch of NAIC is in line with the Norwegian government´s AI strategy, and not least the ambition that the Government will facilitate world-class AI infrastructure in Norway in the form of fast and robust communication networks, and sufficient computing power.
Sabry Razick, Manager for NAIC at UiO, pointed out the many benefits of NAIC. First of all, NAIC is a consolidated effort from several stakeholders in the Norwegian AI community. NAIC will be scalable, in order to fit the needs of different users. Further, it will focus on FAIR data (findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability) data for Machine Learning and AI. NAIC will encompass the latest technology and will have a competent pool of staff. This will provide easy access to the infrastructure together with support and training.
About NAIC
NAIC will provide access to High-Performance Computing (HPC) resources and support for researchers, PhD students, educators, entrepreneurs, startups, and SMEs who are interested in exploring AI methodologies and developing advanced AI models and algorithms. Furthermore, the project provides inclusive training programs and resources, accommodating both individuals new to AI seeking an introductory level of understanding and those looking for more advanced courses to leverage the infrastructure for specific tasks.
Over the course of three years, the Norwegian AI Cloud will bring together leading experts in the field to establish an infrastructure that provides accessible, affordable, and easy-to-use resources for machine learning and deep learning. The consortium comprises a diverse group of partners, including UiO, NORA, NTNU, UiB, SIMULA, UiA, SINTEF, UiT, SIGMA2, and NORCE Research, all of whom are renowned leaders in their respective domains. By pooling their unique expertise and resources, the consortium forms a dynamic and collaborative team fully committed to propelling the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning in Norway.
NORA´s role in NAIC
NAIC will collaborate with NORA’s research school on artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics. Through joint workshops and training, NAIC and NORA will help the uptake of the NAIC infrastructure for Ph.D. students in relevant domains by introducing NAIC resources and services into university courses. The NORA secretariat will offer its services as a hub for communication, linking students and researchers to the NAIC infrastructure, and will give advice on questions related to AI.
Within NORA’s research school, specific workshops will be organized where Ph.D. students bring their research projects and are offered NAIC “on-boarding”. This will ensure a culture of using NAIC across the Norwegian universities and research institutes.
NORA.startup is NORA’s innovation network steered by representatives from the NORA partners, the incubators DataScienceLab (StartupLap) and Gründergarasjen as well as the start-up companies Boost AI and iris.ai. Through cooperation between academia, incubators and start-up companies NORA.startup is building a national innovation network for research-based innovation within machine learning, artificial intelligence, and robotics. NAIC will be a strong force driving for collaboration between start-up companies, research communities and the business sector, with emphasis on professional competence, expertise, development and application of the mentioned technologies. The start-up companies will all benefit from NAIC, they are actively supporting the initiative and will be users of the infrastructure.