Third Community Workshop 2023
7 June 2023 | 9:00-17:30 (-19:00)
Venue: University of Siena – Rettorato, Banchi di Sotto 55
Location: Siena, Italy
After the First ICT-48 Community Workshop held online in June 2021 and a very fruitful Second ICT-48 Community Workshop held in Brussels in October 2022, the members of our community were invited to the third meeting to foster collaborations within the 4+2 Networks of AI Excellence Centres and use this as meeting as an open platform for sharing, gathering and discussing.
The event followed the 3rd TAILOR Conference.
Who is warmly welcome and what to expect?
Target audience:
The workshop is designed specifically for the entire ICT-48 Community of AI4Media, ELISE, HumanE-AI-Net, TAILOR, VISION as well as representatives of the new NoEs, ELSA and euROBIN. Also the representatives of EC, ADRA, ADRA-e and AI4Europe are more then welcome and expected.
Please register as soon as possible as the places are limited to 55 in total.
We look forward to see 3-5 representatives per NoE with the following profiles:
- partners responsible for the strategic connections and direction of the NoEs (usually the coordinators)
- partners responsible for the AIDA (skills development activities)
- partners responsible for the SRAs and mapping of ecosystem
- partners responsible for the communication activities and connection to the ecosystem (and industry)
Objectives and expected results of the event:
- Scientific, Industry and Strategic leadership of ICT-48, ELSA, euROBIN:
To come together and discuss strategic topics for NoEs, planning concrete actions
- EC representatives:
To learn about the common activities of the NoEs and how they contribute to EU goals, and to provide their input
- Adra, Adra-e, AI4Europe representatives:
To discuss ways forward to maximise the impact of NoE research in 2025 and beyond
Photo gallery
Program
8:30 – 9:00 Walk-in
9:00 – 9:15 Welcome by VISION
Holger Hoos – VISION
9:15 – 9:30 Welcome by the EC
Lucilla Sioli – Director DG CNECT.A
9:30 – 10:15
The International AI Doctoral Academy (AIDA): Achievements and future potential
Filareti Tsalakanidou, Ioannis Pitas, Nicu Sebe – AI4Media
This session aims to present the main AIDA achievements so far and discuss ways to expand AIDA in terms of members, educational offerings, and impact. The topic of AIDA’s sustainability after 2024 will also be addressed.
10:15 – 10:45 Coffee Break
10:45 – 11:30
Sustainability of NoEs and their activities within the AI, Data and Robotics ecosystem
Jozef (Joost) Geurts – VISION
The network of AI excellence centers (NoEs) play an important role to support the development and uptake of AI across the EU economy and public administration. In this session we present an overview of the initiatives launched by the EC that contribute to this objective, complementing and leveraging upon the activity of the NoEs and their results. We will discuss mechanisms to maximize and sustain the impact of the NoEs within the ADR ecosystem.
11:30 – 12:00
AI Ecosystem Mapping
Joachim de Greeff, Freek Bomhof – VISION
In this session we will present the status of the of the AI Ecosystem mapping exercise which is to be conducted with the 6 NoEs. Furthermore, we will reflect on the process and outcome, and discuss ideas for a follow-up phase.
12:00 – 13:30 Lunch Break
13:30 – 14:15
Developing the joint strategic research agenda (SRA)
Fredrik Heintz – TAILOR, Jessica Montgomery – ELISE
The joint strategic research agenda is a collaboration across AI4MEDIA, ELISE, ELSA, euROBIN, HUMANE-AI, and TAILOR. It will highlight shared areas of research interest across the current ICT-48 networks. This session will introduce headlines from the joint agenda and give space for discussion about this work.
14:15 – 15:00
Connecting research to industry
Philipp Slusallek – VISION
In this session, the Networks of AI Excellence will present and discuss the main achievements to link research and industry. Based on these best practices, an outlook will also be given on the most successful mechanisms for research-industry collaboration opportunities beyond projects, including Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) and Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs).
15:00 – 15:30 Coffee Break
15:30 – 16:15
Common Visual Identity and “AI made in Europe” brand
Holger Hoos, Eva Doležalová – VISION
In this session, we present the design and intended use of the common visual identity as developed by the NoEs, followed by a discussion on maximising visibility and impact
16:15 – 16:30 Break
16:30 – 17:15
Looking beyond the Horizon
Géraud Guilloud – VISION
The network of AI excellence centers (NoEs) are a central piece of the EU R&I landscape on AI. This landscape is evolving and the preparation for the R&I landscape in the next MFF have started, notably with the Open consultation beginning of 2023. This session will gather early input from the NoE on the shape of the future innovation landscape on AI as from 2028, in order to insure the continuity of the impact generated by the NoE and face the future research and innovation challenges on Artificial Intelligence.
17:15 – 17:30 Wrap-up
17:30 – 19:30 Free time for networking
19:30 – 21:00 Dinner: Antica Trattoria Papei, Piazza Mercato 6
Meet the speakers
Lucilla Sioli
Director for “Artificial Intelligence and Digital Industry” within Directorate-General CONNECT at the European Commission; responsible for the coordination of the European digitisation of industry strategy and for policy development in the areas of AI.
Jessica Montgomery
Director of AI@Cam, a new University of Cambridge strategic mission to develop AI technologies that serve science, citizens, and society.
Lead of SRA development for the ELISE/ELLIS networks.
Ioannis Pitas
Professor at the Department of Informatics of AUTH and Director of the Artificial Intelligence and Information Analysis (AIIA) lab.
Chair of the International AI Doctoral Academy (AIDA) and member of the AI4Media project.
Nicu Sebe
Professor in the University of Trento, Italy, where he is leading the research in the areas of multimedia analysis and human behavior understanding. Fellow of IAPR.
Filareti Tsalakanidou
Researcher at the Information Technologies Institute of the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Thessaloniki, Greece. Project manager of the AI4Media.
Fredrik Heintz
Professor of Computer Science at Linköping University, head of the Division of AI and Integrated Computer Systems (AIICS) and the Reasoning and Learning lab (ReaL). Coordinator of the TAILOR network.
Scientific Director and a member of the executive board at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). A member of acatech (German National Academy of Science and Engineering), a member of the High-Level Expert Group on AI for the EC, Co-founder of the European AI initiative CLAIRE.
Professor of AI at RWTH Aachen University and Professor of Machine Learning at Universiteit Leiden, VISION Project Coordinator and chairman of the board of CLAIRE
Géraud Guilloud
EU Manager – ICT, Strategy & Policy unit (ISP) at TNO, Digital change advisor with focus on Innovation Management and EU machinery
Jozef (Joost) Geurts
Deputy director for European Partnerships at Inria – in this role, he represents Inria in various European strategic associations that shape and implement the European R&I agenda
Eva Doležalová
PR and Marketing Manager at the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics, and Cybernetics, Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic. Responsible for communication WP of VISION CSA project.
Joachim de Greeff works as a Senior Consultant at the TNO Data Science group. He has the lead on the topic of Communicative AI, which aims to achieve seamless and natural information exchange between people and AI systems.
Senior consultant in the Data Science group at the TNO, focusing on applications of responsible AI, mostly for the Safety & Security sector. Board member of the Big Data Value Association
Invitation to TAILOR afternoon session on 6 June
All participants of the Third Community Workshop are warmly welcomed to the TAILOR conference session on 6 June 2023 after lunch, as well as to the social dinner in the evening. Bus transfer from Siena to the venue (La Certosa di Pontignano) just outside the city, and back to Siena after dinner, will be arranged.
The afternoon session is planned as follows:
14:00 Latest news from DG CNECT.
14:15 The TAILOR roadmap and the Joint SRA; forward-looking discussions
15:30 Coffee
16:00 Panel discussion on TAILOR and LLM
17:00 Keynote presentation by Thomas G. Diettrich on Competence Models For Machine Learning Systems
18:00 Networking in the gardens of La Certosa di Pontignano
19:00 Departure for a social dinner in a typical Tuscan restaurant.
If you would like to join, please send an email to Trine, at trine.vikinge@liu.se stating this, and any food intolerances we need to know of.
Registration
We ask for your understanding as the registrations have already closed.
If you need any information about your possible participation, please contact the organising team.
We kindly ask you to consider that the event is devoted only for 4+2 NoEs community and the related community at large as stated above. If you are not member of any of the entities, please accept our apology but it is not possible to take a part.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact the organising team:
VISION team: info@vision4ai.eu
Chair of the Organising team:
Claudio Lazo (TNO, Scientist Innovator) claudio.lazo(at)tno.nl
Other members of the organising team:
- Myrra Carstens (VISION Project Mng)
m.carstens(at)hands4grants.eu - Joachim de Greeff (Organising committee)
joachim.degreeff(at)tno.nl - Kristina Karanikolova (Organising commitee)
kristina.karanikolova(at)tno.nl - Eva Dolezalova (Communication)
eva.dolezalova(at)cvut.cz
Please note that expenses for flights and accommodation shall be covered by the separate projects, whereas coffee, lunch, and dinner will be provided by the VISION project as the main organiser.
Accommodation
For the accommodation, we suggest the following hotels:
Hotel Chiusarelli, Hotel Duomo, NH Hotel.
In any case we suggest you book a room as soon as possible, as it is high-season in Siena during the days of the workshop.