The conference aims to gather the Norwegian research community within the field of Artificial Intelligence and creates a platform where invited speakers and participants can share research, ideas, theories, models and new perspectives and - most importantly - interact with peers from the field. Knowledge sharing and interaction was at the center of the conference, which in turns fosters a strong community of researchers and practitioners, while bridging the gap between young and experienced researchers, startups, public sector and industry.
The conference is open to all researchers from NORA universities, research institutes, university colleges, NORA.startup and NORA strategic partners. Representatives from non-partner organizations, startups, industry and the public sector were also invited and in attendance.
The conference had three keynote speakers;
- Anders M. Dale, Professor of Neurosciences, Radiology, Psychiatry, Cognitive Science, and Data Science, UCSD
- Jill Walker Rettberg, Jill Walker Rettberg is Professor of Digital Culture at the University of Bergen, and Co-Director of the new Center of Digital Narratives “AI and humans: A love/hate relationship spanning millennia”
- Arnoldo Frigessi, Professor of Statistics, Department of Biostatistics, Leader of the Oslo Center for Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Director of BigInsight, University of Oslo “Pair copula constructions in machine learning.
The keynotes were aimed at providing state of the art knowledge about specific topics related to AI.
The conference also hosted two panel discussions, one discussing NeuroAI and one on the topic of Large Language Models: Bias & Reasoning. Both panels featured prominent researchers and discussed key challenges and opportunities within the respective fields.
NeuroAI featured none other than Solve Sæbø, Professor, The Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Anders M. Dale, Professor of Neurosciences, Radiology, Psychiatry, Cognitive Science, and Data Science, UCSD, Hanne Stensola, Associate Professor, University of Agder, Klas Pettersen, CEO, NORA. The panel discussion was moderated by Gaute Einevoll, Professor, NMBU.
Large Language Models: Bias & Reasoning presented Jill Walker Rettberg, Professor UiB, Per Egil Kummervold, National Library, Silje Strandengen. Morten Goodwin, Professor UiA, moderated the discussion.
The panel discussion was recorded as a podcast. You can listen to the podcast here.
Both panel discussions will become available as NORA podcasts.
The keynotes weren’t the only highlights of the conference, which was packed with exciting research presentations, poster sessions and presentations from startups and strategic partners. The conference presented four academic tracks with interesting academic presentations from researchers. Track1 presented talks about Responsible AI & Representation Learning and was chaired by Ana Ozaki, Associate Professor, UiB. Track 2 focused on Medical AI & Chemistry and was chaired by Morten Goodwin, Professor, UiA. Track 3 featured presentations on Marine AI & Earth Observation and was chaired by Katalin Blix, Research Fellow, UiT , while track 4 was themed “Miscellaneous”, chaired by Mina Farmanbar, Associate Professor, UiS. Erik Finnesand, Muhammad Sulaiman and Mina Farmanbar won the best oral presentation for their abstract “An Efficient Machine Learning Approach for Building Segmentation Using Arial Images and LiDAR Data”, while Masoud Tafavvoghi, Kajsa Møllersen and Lars Ailo Bongo won best poster presentation for their poster “Cancer detection for white urban Americans”.
The conference dinner was hosted at Fjellheisen, where conference participants enjoyed the stunning views of Tromsø. During the dinner, we got the opportunity to announce and celebrate some of the most inspiring individuals within the Norwegian AI community by handing out the NORA annual awards, shedding light on a handful of the most notable figures and efforts of the past year. The winners of the awards were nominated by the AI Community in Norway and were reviewed by the Program Committee of the Annual Conference and the NORA Board.
Our sincerest congratulations to all winners!
▶ NORA Award for Lifetime Achievement - Jim Tørresen, Professor, UiO.
▶ NORA Award for Distinguished Early-Career Investigator - Ishita Barua, MD PhD, Lead in AI Healthcare, Deloitte.
▶ NORA Award for AI Community Building - Morten Goodwin, Professor, UiA.
▶ NORA Award for Diversity in AI - Roger A. Søraa, Associate Professor, NTNU.
▶ NORA Award for Outstanding Publication of the Decade 2012 – 2022 - Kai Olav Ellefsen, Jean-Baptiste Mouret, and Jeff Clune. "Neural modularity helps organisms evolve to learn new skills without forgetting old skills." PLoS computational biology 11.4 (2015): e1004128.
▶ NORA.startup Award - Factiverse AS.
Read more about the awards here.
The conference confirmed the need for meeting places for the Norwegian AI-community, and NORA will do its best to fulfill this important role and facilitate connections between the many AI communities in Norway and be a gathering force connecting communities together.
NORA would like to thank everybody who contributed to and participated at the conference, and a special thanks to the program committee and UiT The University of Tromsø for their help and support. This conference will be an annual event for the coming years. Next years conference will be hosted on the 3rd and 4th of June in Kristiansand!
We will see you there!
This articles was originally published on the 29th of June, 2023.