Portugal participates in one of Europe's first Artificial Intelligence factories

The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (European High Performance Computing JU) announced today, December 10, the countries that will host the first European Artificial Intelligence (AI) factories, which will be installed next year in seven Member States, selecting the proposal with national participation for funding.

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, the Ministry of Economy, and the Ministry of Youth and Modernization.

AI factories bring together national and European Union (EU) resources in a collaborative effort involving 17 European countries.

The national application is part of a joint initiative by Spain, Portugal, Turkey, and Romania, represented respectively by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS), the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), and the National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics (ICI București).

The system installed at the AI Factory will develop and operate a computing infrastructure enabled for Artificial Intelligence. It 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 academic and non-academic contexts.

The application in which Portugal is participating will operate an AI Factory associated with the MareNostrum 5 supercomputer, located in Barcelona and acquired through a partnership between Portugal, Spain, and Turkey. This application also includes an interface structure in Portuguese territory with dedicated human resources to provide high-value services and support SMEs in the use of this computing infrastructure and the development of artificial intelligence applications.

This application, with national participation and funding, also includes an experimental platform that will serve as a cutting-edge infrastructure for developing and testing innovative AI models and applications, as well as promoting collaboration across Europe.

The EuroHPC AI Factories initiative was designed to create a robust and interconnected network of AI centers. These centers, one of which is based in Portugal, aim to serve as one-stop shops for comprehensive support to start-ups, SMEs, and researchers, including access to AI-optimized high-performance computing (HPC) resources, training, and technical expertise.

These new computational resources will join the Deucalion and MareNostrum 5 supercomputers currently made available by FCT to the national community.

The selection of these seven host entities, which will operate the new AI factories on behalf of EuroHPC, will enable 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.