site.btaINSAIT Hosts Key European Initiative on Artificial Intelligence

Sofia welcomed more than 40 representatives of 37 leading European universities and technology companies such as Thales, ST Microelectronics, the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), ETH Zurich, Sorbonne, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and others, the press office of the Ministry of Education said on Monday.

The INSAIT Institute at Sofia University hosted the general assembly of the key European initiative for artificial intelligence on end devices dAIEDGE, which includes scientists and representatives of leading European technology companies such as Thales, ST Microelectronics, the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), ETH Zurich, Sorbonne, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and others. The forum took place on 7 and 8 March in Sofia and tracked the progress of the project's objectives, which include the EU, EC, and European technology community's strategy for Europe's future development in the field of AI on end devices. Another key objective is the development of a new technology platform for the deployment of artificial intelligence in satellites, drones, and smart cities.

INSAIT participates in dAIEDGE with developments in the three main areas of smart cities, drones and robots, and satellite technologies. The smart cities project involves a network of cameras and sensors communicating with autonomous vehicles to improve safety. The second project covers the delivery of the future - drone and robot working in sync for autonomous deliveries from online purchase to consumer. The third project is about building the next generation of earth observation satellites. The project involves developing artificial intelligence to process data on the satellite itself, optimising the exchange of data sent to Earth. 

INSAIT's participation in the dAIEDGE project is part of the institute's strategy to position Bulgaria as one of the leading centres for technology creation in Europe. The participation of the Bulgarian institute in the project is led by Prof. Luc Van Gool, one of the world's leading computer scientists and a pioneer in computer vision and artificial intelligence. He joined the INSAIT team in 2022 with the support of Bulgarian technology leader SiteGround.

The dAIEDGE project is part of the wider European Lighthouse research network, which INSAIT will join later this year. dAIEDGE is funded under the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation framework programme.