THE EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (European High Performance Computing JU) announced the countries that will host the first European Artificial Intelligence factories (IA), which will be installed over the next year in seven Member States, selecting the proposal with national participation for financing.
Portuguese participation is led by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), following the guidelines of the Portuguese government, through the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation, of the Ministry of Economy and of the Ministry of Youth and Modernization.
To the AI factories bring together national and European Union resources (EU), in a collaborative effort of 17 European countries.
Portuguese Participation
The national candidacy is part of a joint initiative of Spain, Portugal, Türkiye and Romania, represented respectively by Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS), the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK) and the National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics (ICI București).
THE system installed at the AI Factory will develop and operate an Artificial Intelligence-enabled computing infrastructureIt will serve the European Union's AI innovation ecosystem, enabling the use of Artificial Intelligence by Portuguese businesses, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), public administration entities, and national researchers in both academic and non-academic contexts.
The candidacy in which Portugal participates will operate uan AI Factory associated with the MareNostrum 5 supercomputer, located in Barcelona and acquired in a partnership between Portugal, Spain and Türkiye. This application also includes a interface structure in Portuguese territory with dedicated human resources to provide high-value services and support SMEs in using this computing infrastructure and developing artificial intelligence applications.
In this application, with national participation and financing, it also appears an experimental platform, which will serve as cutting-edge infrastructure for developing and testing innovative AI models and applications, as well as for promote collaboration across Europe.
On EuroHPC AI Factories
THE EuroHPC AI Factories initiative was designed to create a robust and interconnected network of AI centersThese centers, one of which is based in Portugal, aim to serve as one-stop shops for comprehensive support for start-ups, SMEs, and researchers, including access to AI-optimized high-performance computing (HPC) resources, training, and specialized technical expertise.
These new computing resources will join the Deucalion and MareNostrum 5 supercomputers currently made available by the FCT to the national community.
The selection of these seven host entities, which will operate the new AI factories on behalf of EuroHPC, will allow the research and development of cutting-edge AI applications, provide industry with access to advanced AI tools and promote innovation in areas such as healthcare, energy and climate transition.
