Nordic Five Tech establishes new network for artificial intelligence

Today, the Nordic Five Tech alliance of leading technical universities in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden announces the creation of the Nordic Artificial Intelligence Network. With global interest in the many opportunities of artificial intelligence (AI), the network will bring together, and harness, leading expertise in the field with the aim of taking the landmark step to make the region a global hub in AI research, education and innovation. 

The Nordic AI Network will begin activities already in 2019 with selected events. In coming years, it will share educational resources, stimulate research collaborations, as well as study and share best practices and business models for collaboration with industry. Its activities will, overall, set the stage to communicate Nordic excellence in the field of AI and obtain competitive funding at both the national and European levels. 

‘AI is set to change the world and the Nordics must be part of this tremendous shift. Bringing expertise from across our countries under one umbrella through the Nordic AI Network is a crucial step in making the Nordics a global hub in artificial intelligence. We are very pleased to launch the network and build up activities in coming months,’ says Ilkka Niemelä, President of Aalto University. 

‘The Nordic Five Tech alliance has very strong AI research groups. We are uniquely positioned to apply AI for the benefit of society both because it is a part of our mission as technical universities and due to our shared culture of collaborating with both the business community and public institutions. Together our alliance is stronger than the individual universities and we can share our best practices both in relation to research and education to the benefit of all in the Nordic region,’ says Anders O. Bjarklev, President of the Technical University of Denmark in Denmark. 

Made up of Aalto University, Chalmers University of Technology, the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), KTH Royal Institute of Technology and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), the Nordic Five Tech universities are each home to research institutes and centres dedicated to AI, like the Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence.

The decision to create the Nordic AI Network was made at the meeting of Nordic Five Tech presidents on 26 April 2019. 

More information:
Ville Kyrki
Associate Professor, Intelligent machines
ville.kyrki@aalto.fi
tel:+358504082035