DeployAI, a new European research project in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), aims to make AI solutions more accessible and usable for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the public sector across Europe over the next four years. With €28 million in funding from the European Commission, this project is a pioneering initiative to shape Europe's future AI landscape.
New platform to make AI implementation easier
At the centre of DeployAI's mission is the creation of a comprehensive AI platform for industry and the public sector, based on trust, ethics and transparency. This platform will be vendor agnostic, create fair and democratic access to cutting-edge AI technologies developed in Europe, including generative AI and large-scale language modelling, and enable innovation at scale.
To ensure active participation from industry (especially small and medium-sized enterprises) and the public sector, DeployAI will offer matchmaking services and an interactive landscape tool to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing within the European AI community. A contact point for users will help to identify the needs of all stakeholders and align the platform accordingly.
DeployAI focuses on "AI on demand"
DeployAI will work to integrate the AI on Demand Platform (AIoDP) into the European AI ecosystem and promote collaboration with institutions such as the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs), Test and Experimentation Facilities for AI (TEFs), Data Spaces, EuroHPC centres, HPC, cloud and edge infrastructures and standardisation organisations. The project will also play an important role in supporting the recently announced AI Factories and the GenAI4EU initiative, which are part of the AI Innovation Package.
DeployAI will leverage the latest advances in AI technology to provide a comprehensive and trustworthy AI resource catalogue and marketplace, offering responsible AI resources and tools to promote the use and transfer of European AI solutions. The platform is aimed at various stakeholders, in particular SMEs and public organisations wishing to deploy AI, as well as AI developers, consultants, managers and other AI experts from European industry and the public sector.
DeployAI: 28 partners from 13 EU countries
The project is part of the European Commission's "Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, Innovation and Excellence" department and was officially launched with a two-day opening event in Berlin from 29 February to 1 March 2024. With 28 partners from 13 European countries and a balance between public and private organisations, DeployAI brings together different skills and resources to drive the development and implementation of the platform.
The project coordinator of DeployAI, Dr Joachim Köhler, Head of Department at the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS, said: "We are delighted to present DeployAI and its transformative potential to promote the adoption of trustworthy and ethical AI solutions across Europe. With the AI on Demand platform, we aim to democratise access to AI technologies, in particular access to European GenAI models and tools, to ensure digital sovereignty in this strategically important technology area."
The German-speaking region is represented by seven renowned partners in this central project for European technology and business expertise. In addition to Fraunhofer IAIS as project coordinator, Aspect Partners and Convotis GmbH are in charge of business development, while marketing and communication are coordinated by the German AI Association. Partners such as the VDE, IONOS SE and the FIWARE Foundation are contributing to the development and implementation of the technological functionality of the future platform.
The DeployAI consortium consists of the following partners:
Coordinator:
- Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS, Germany
Partner:
- AALTO University, Finland
- Aspect Partners, Germany
- European Centre for medium-range Weather Forecast, United Kingdom
- Convotis Services / GmbH, Austria & Germany
- Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation S.A (OTE), Greece
- Croatian Artificial Intelligence Association, Croatia
- National Centre for Scientific Research "Demokritos", Greece
- EIT Digital, Belgium
- DIMECC, Finland
- F6S Network, Ireland
- Bruno Kessler Institute, Italy
- FIWARE Foundation, Germany
- German AI Association, Germany
- Hub France IA, France
- IONOS SE, Germany
- LIGHT ON, France
- LuxProvide SA, Luxembourg
- Science For You (SciFY), Greece
- Silo AI, Finland
- AI Sweden, Sweden
- VDE - Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies, Germany
- Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS), Greece
- CSC- IT Centre for Science, Finland
- Arcada University of Applied Sciences, Finland
- Örebro University, Sweden
- Technical University of Denmark - DTU, Denmark
Associated partner:
- ADRA - The AI, Data and Robotics Association, Belgium
Further information can be found on the project's LinkedIn page.
