Sweden wins AI Factories bid

Sweden, with a joint bid from NAISS and RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden), has been granted by EuroHPC JU (Joint Undertaking) to establish an AI Factory. It will focus on areas of strategic importance to Sweden, such as life sciences, materials science, autonomous systems, and the gaming industry.

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The Factory, which will be called Mimer, combines a new AI-optimised supercomputer with comprehensive support for training, research and industrial innovation.

AI Factories is an EU initiative launched in January 2024 to boost innovation and promote the use of AI services in Europe (read more below). NAISS, together with RISE (the Research Institutes of Sweden) , registered a proposal in September which has now been approved by EuroHPC JU.

Mimer will focus on areas of strategic importance to Sweden, such as life sciences, materials science, autonomous systems, and the gaming industry. The aim is to democratise access to AI both for researchers and small and medium enterprises (SME), and to strengthen collaborations between academia and industry.

Photo of Erik Lindahl — Erik Lindahl. Photo: Magnus Johansson

“This is a hugely important step that will help promote the use of AI in research, trade and industry in Sweden. We are deeply grateful to the government, the Swedish Research Council, and Vinnova for acting swiftly and decisively to enable this effort through Swedish co-funding. We would also like to thank all industrial actors and NAISS partners who are contributing to setting up this project,” says Erik Lindahl, Professor at Linköping University and incoming NAISS Director.

“This will make Sweden one of the first countries to implement the EU Commission’s AI Factories initiative, to drive research and innovation and make AI accessible to more users than ever before.”

Work on the project, which will be led by NAISS in cooperation with RISE, will begin imminently. The long-term ambition is to strengthen Sweden’s and Europe’s position in artificial intelligence and attract prominent AI users from all over Europe.

Collaboration hubs for users will be set up in Linköping and Stockholm, with additional staff and support activities across Sweden. A new state-of-the-art supercomputer will offer cloud-based access for maximum ease of use and capacity to handle large amounts of training data as well as secure processing of sensitive data. Users will have a single point of contact for all Mimer resources and services.

Mimer will be co-funded 50/50 between EuroHPC JU and Sweden, through the Swedish Research Council and the innovation agency Vinnova, with each party controlling and allocating the corresponding share of resources.

Read EuroHPC JU’s press release here:
https://eurohpc-ju.europa.eu/selection-first-seven-ai-factories-drive-europes-leadership-ai-2024-12-10_en

For more information, please contact NAISS Acting Director Björn Alling at
bjorn.alling@naiss.se.

What are AI Factories?
AI Factories is an EU initiative launched in January 2024 with the aim to boost innovation and promote the use of AI services in Europe. This will be achieved by supporting AI startups, businesses, government agencies, and researchers with supercomputing resources, large-scale storage, support, and training – all of which are included in the AI Factories package. The EU Commission’s goal is to set up at least five factories across EU, with the first ones being launched in 2025. As per November 2024, seven proposals from 15 EU member states (among them Sweden) and two associated countries have been submitted. AI Factories are managed by EuroHPC JU (Joint Undertaking), a European organisation set up to develop a world-class supercomputing ecosystem in Europe. Funding and resources are shared 50/50 between EuroHPC JU and the respective host organisation. The share funded by EuroHPC JU will be available for users across EU. Only organisations which are already hosting EuroHPC JU systems are qualified to take part. NAISS, which is soon about to become a EuroHPC JU host thanks to the new supercomputer Arrhenius, registered a proposal for an AI Factory in September together with the research institute RISE. In its November 2024 report “Roadmap for Sweden”, the government’s AI Commission stressed the importance of supporting the establishment of an AI Factory in Sweden. Read more about AI Factories at the EU Commission website.

What are AI Factories?

AI Factories is an EU initiative launched in January 2024 with the aim to boost innovation and promote the use of AI services in Europe. This will be achieved by supporting AI startups, businesses, government agencies, and researchers with supercomputing resources, large-scale storage, support, and training – all of which are included in the AI Factories package.

The EU Commission’s goal is to set up at least five factories across EU, with the first ones being launched in 2025. As per November 2024, seven proposals from 15 EU member states (among them Sweden) and two associated countries have been submitted.

AI Factories are managed by EuroHPC JU (Joint Undertaking), a European organisation set up to develop a world-class supercomputing ecosystem in Europe. Funding and resources are shared 50/50 between EuroHPC JU and the respective host organisation. The share funded by EuroHPC JU will be available for users across EU.

Only organisations which are already hosting EuroHPC JU systems are qualified to take part. NAISS, which is soon about to become a EuroHPC JU host thanks to the new supercomputer Arrhenius, registered a proposal for an AI Factory in September together with the research institute RISE.

In its November 2024 report “Roadmap for Sweden”, the government’s AI Commission stressed the importance of supporting the establishment of an AI Factory in Sweden.

Read more about AI Factories at the EU Commission website.