May 26, 2020 — The Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence FCAI and NVIDIA’s joint NVIDIA AI Technology Center (NVAITC) will accelerate AI research, education and adoption in Finland. Thanks to the new collaboration, researchers will be better equipped to develop computationally demanding artificial intelligence applications for research and industry use.

The joint research centre starts its operations in June 2020. Thanks to the center, artificial intelligence researchers will be able to benefit from NVIDIA’s expertise in utilizing graphics processing units (GPUs) and AI software in AI applications. NVIDIA can also actively contribute to research carried out at FCAI. The Finnish IT Centre for Science, CSC, is also contributing to the collaboration by supplying a considerable amount of computing power for AI researchers at its data centre located in Kajaani, central Finland.

NVIDIA’s graphics processing units are used especially for AI model training and inference. The new NVAITC will be able to support research projects that require exceptional amounts of computing power, such as AI solutions for healthcare or smart cities.

“Artificial intelligence can be applied to almost any industry or area of research. However, achieving scientific breakthroughs may require processing of such large datasets that, without the support offered by the NVAITC, researchers would be unable to complete their work. As a hardware provider, NVIDIA has in-depth expertise in GPU-based systems, which all AI researchers have not yet access to,” says professor Keijo Heljanko from FCAI.

“Scientists, researchers and businesses worldwide rely on NVIDIA’s AI computing platform to harness the power of artificial intelligence. Through this cooperation with FCAI, we are able to boost AI research in Finland and better support local scientists already doing great work in the field, says Simon See,” senior director of NVAITC at NVIDIA.

“CSC plays an important role in the operation of the NVAITC, as we are able to provide researchers with significant GPU capacity and expert support for the utilization of artificial intelligence-based high-performance computing environments. The project can be used to increase Finnish artificial intelligence skills and develop new software. At the same time, cooperation between the technology supplier and researchers will be increased. This will improve research resources and train more artificial intelligence experts,” says Kimmo Koski, CEO of CSC.

FCAI is a community of experts, coordinated by Aalto University, the University of Helsinki and VTT, that brings together Finnish AI research efforts. Previously, NVIDIA AI Technology Centers have been established in Luxembourg and Italy as well as in several Asian countries.

“The research carried out in these centres requires top-level expertise in artificial intelligence. It’s a tribute to the AI expertise of FCAI to have the chance to contribute to the establishment of one of the first NVAITC centres in Europe,” says Academy Professor Samuel Kaski, director of FCAI.

CSC – IT Center for Science Ltd.

CSC is a Finnish center of expertise in ICT that provides world-class services for research, education, culture, public administration and enterprises, to help them thrive and benefit society at large. Additional information: www.csc.fi

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Source: CSC