Cross-NoEs Joint Achievements
The recent advancements in European AI research underscore the collaborative success of the European Networks of Excellence (NoEs) and their community-driven initiatives. The updated Joint Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) highlights key advancements, including the integration of generative AI and the pursuit of safe, reliable foundation models. The evolution of the Community Workshops from modest gatherings to expansive events with over 300 participants exemplifies the growing strength of these collaborative efforts. Initiatives like the Joint Ecosystem Mapping project, the International AI Doctoral Academy (AIDA), and the European Summer School on Artificial Intelligence (ESSAI) showcase significant strides in enhancing AI education, research, and industry connections. These joint achievements illustrate the European Commission’s effective role in fostering a united AI community and driving forward technological innovation.
Academia-Industry Collaboration
Academic and Industry collaboration during the lifetime of these NoE R&I projects has facilitated discussions, developed results and technological advances on specific use cases over short periods of time, and contributed to the strengthening of existing and new relationships between academic and industrial partners.
The activities related to industrial collaboration within the NoEs can be organised into 5 main categories (for details click on each and learn more): Testing and validation, Financial support, Social interaction and networking, Education, Support to the R&I Ecosystem. You can find more information here.
Building on CLAIRE’s original concept, VISION, TAILOR, and CLAIRE organized seven Theme Development Workshops (TDWs). These workshops, involving researchers, industry representatives, and stakeholders, identified industry trends and aligned them with Europe’s AI capabilities. The effort culminated in the 1st Industry Collaboration and Transfer Exchange on AI, “From Research to Market,” held in Saarbrücken in May 2024.
AIDA – International AI Doctoral Academy
AIDA – International AI Doctoral Academy was created as a joint initiative of NoEs under the leadership of AI4Media and VISION to offer access to a world-class AI education and research programme that attracts PhD talents from across Europe. Currently, it comprises 78 institutional members, and 158 registered lecturers and has already offered 82 courses and 51 lectures in the AI Excellence Lecture Series. 239 students have registered for the AIDA courses so far while more than 300 educational resources on AIDA’s repository are available for anyone that may be interested.
Community Workshops
The Community Workshops were highly successful for the NoEs. Originally planned as two small events, they expanded into four annual workshops with a broader scope, attracting over 300 participants. These workshops promoted interaction and collaboration among NoEs and related initiatives like AI4Europe, ICT-49, and CLAIRE, leading to concrete outcomes such as joint SRA, ecosystem mapping, and theme development workshops. Since the 4th workshop, the organization has become community-driven, with a cross-NoE committee and CERTH as the local chair.
ESSAI – the European Summer School on Artificial Intelligence
ESSAI – the European Summer School on Artificial Intelligence (ESSAI) is a direct product of European AI research being increasingly coordinated and scaled up across projects, research organisations and countries. The establishment of this summer school was made possible by the NoE:s, in particular TAILOR. From 2025 and onwards, ESSAI will be organised by EurAI.
Joint Ecosystem Mapping
Joint Ecosystem Mapping of AI-Data-Robotics in Europe provides a comprehensive overview of the continent’s AI capabilities in R&D&I, helping to locate organizations across specific AI domains. After two years of work led by the VISION project, this initiative launched a prototype tool integrated with the AI-on-Demand Platform to ensure the sustainability of data collection. A Joint Topic Group on “Ecosystem Mapping & Information Repository” (EMIR) will oversee the maintenance of these services. A shared classification of research topics and application areas was also developed to standardize data collection for the interactive website’s first version.
New edition of the Joint SRA
Joint Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) and particular SRAs elaborated by NoEs provide a framework for delivering ambitious plans to advance European AI research and development in AI, data and robotics and its translation to real-world impact in different domains to ensure that Europe stays at the forefront of technological progress and innovation.
The new version of the joint SRA acknowledges the impact that generative AI has made in the short time since the previous version and introduces the new research challenge ‘Building safe, reliable, and trustworthy foundation models’.
Ph.D. Curriculum
Ph.D. Curriculum – a standardized AI Ph.D. curriculum that is both comprehensive and reflective of the latest advancements in the field. This framework includes seven core subjects and four special topics, ensuring a broad yet focused educational foundation. The core subjects are deemed essential for all AI Ph.D. programs, while the special topics are tailored to specific areas covered by the four participating NoEs: AI4Media, ELISE, HumanE-AI Net, and TAILOR.
The common visual identity for the European NoE community
The common visual identity has been developed and implemented by VISION as a clear contribution to the visibility of the excellence of the European Union in AI R&D&I that is human-centric, sustainable, secure, inclusive and trustworthy.