A new €10m European project is set to boost AI adoption among businesses and researchers across the UK to help unlock untapped economic and scientific potential.
The initiative, led by the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), aims to help organisations take their first steps in AI adoption, enhance their understanding of the technology and its applications, and demonstrate how it can boost productivity and drive economic growth.
The University of Edinburgh’s EPCC, the UK’s first National Supercomputing Centre, has won EU and UK Government funding to establish and operate the UK AI Factory Antenna (UKAIFA).
The project will employ a team of 20 staff at the EPCC and develop a set of services for the UK’s start-ups, SMEs, larger industrial companies and the public sector.
Ramping up AI adoption across critical sectors
The AI Factory Antenna will build on the UK’s existing strengths and work with partners to accelerate AI adoption in sectors such as health, fintech, energy, creative industries, advanced engineering, and robotics.
The AI Factory Antenna is part of the European Union’s AI Factories initiative, which fosters innovation, collaboration and research in the field of AI by bringing together computing, data and talent to develop AI for the benefit of all.
AI Factory Antennas enable countries outside the EU, such as the UK, to partner with an AI Factory, therefore bringing the benefits to their respective countries.
The UK Government selected EPCC to lead the UK’s bid to secure an AI Factory Antenna through a competitive expression of interest process. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will contribute £2.5m of the funding.
Professor Mark Parsons, EPCC Director and UKAIFA Lead Coordinator, stated: “EPCC and HLRS have led the use of national supercomputing services in Europe by industry over the past 30 years.
“The emergence of AI as a key application of supercomputing, and this funding from EuroHPC and the UK Government, is now enabling our organisations to embark on this new collaboration.”
International collaboration with HammerHAI
The UK’s AI Factory Antenna at EPCC is collaborating with the HammerHAI AI Factory, based at and coordinated by the High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS), Germany’s first National Supercomputing Centre, in partnership with a consortium of leading German academic research centres.
HLRS and HammerHAI will collaborate with their local manufacturing, engineering, and research sectors to better harness the power of AI.
“Considering the shared commitment and expertise that HLRS and EPCC have in bringing HPC and AI to industry, the UKAIFA is a perfect match for HammerHAI,” said Dr Bastian Koller, Managing Director at HLRS and Lead Coordinator of HammerHAI.
“It will enable us to build on our past successes to focus intently on the most urgent challenges European companies currently face in adopting and scaling up AI adoption.”
Dennis Hoppe, head of the HLRS Department of Converged Computing and project manager of HammerHAI, added: “This partnership reinforces HammerHAI’s commitment to advancing AI innovation across Europe’s industries.
“Together, we will contribute to accelerating AI adoption, providing secure and scalable AI resources for academia and business.”