EU Commissioner at RISE for European AI initiative

 "It was very gratifying to hear that startups and researchers here in Sweden are sopositive to the initiative," says Henna Virkkunen.

 The AI factories, which are being established in 13 locations across Europe, are an EU initiative to strengthen the Union's ability to develop and apply artificial intelligence. In the EU, there are already prominent players in AI, both in the research community and among startups, but the computational capacity is still insufficient.

"That is why, together with the member states, we are now investing in supercomputers and creating AI factories," says Henna Virkkunen, who is responsible for issues of technological sovereignty, security and democracy.

"AI is a critical technology where we must have our own capabilities within the EU – so that we are not completely dependent on third-party countries," she continues.

RISE and Linköping University are running the Swedish AI factory MIMER, where a new supercomputer is currently being built. The aim is to give more actors, especially smaller companies and researchers, access to the computing power and resources required to develop and train advanced AI models.

Henna Virkkunen highlights the role of research institutes in translating knowledge into the benefit of society.

"This is something we often lack in the European Union, we have very strong research and science, but when it comes to innovation and access to the market, there is often a missing piece of the puzzle. RISE works primarily in this gap, between research and industry," says Henna Virkkunen.

"The lack of access to infrastructure has really been an obstacle. It was very gratifying to hear that startups and researchers here in Sweden are very positive about the initiative – that this is something they have really missed.

Petra Dalunde, RISE (co-director Mimer), Erik Slottner, Minister for public administration, Carl Heath, senior researcher RISE, Malin Frenning, CEO RISE, Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice President, European Commission, Thor Wikfeldt, researcher RISE, Erik Lindahl, Head of NAISS, Linköpings Universitet, Mikael Lindström, Deputy President KTH, Hanifeh Khayyeri, Head of Computer Science , RISE.

Several stakeholders participated in the meeting, including Minister for Civil Affairs Erik Slottner, representatives from Linköping University and management and experts from RISE. The discussions focused on how MIMER can contribute to strengthening Swedish technological capacity, and how the initiative can support both the business community and the public sector in adopting AI.

"I was very happy to hear about the plans around the Swedish AI factory, that researchers and AI developers will be trained in using the capacity and data. The competence-enhancing part is a very important part of the factories," says Henna Virkkunen.

Press contact:

Niklas Jälevik, Head of Media Relations, niklas.jalevik@ri.se

About the AI factory MIMER

MIMER is Sweden's AI factory within the EU's initiative to strengthen European capacity in artificial intelligence. The factory is run by RISE and Linköping University and offers access to supercomputers, test environments and expert support for research, innovation and companies.

The initiative is funded and coordinated by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking – the EU's organisation for High Performance Computing – with support from Vinnova, the Swedish Research Council and the Swedish government. MIMER focuses particularly on applications in areas where Sweden has strong research and innovation environments: autonomous systems, game development, life science and materials technology.

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