The European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) has announced the selection of 13 AI Factory Antennas to improve existing AI Factories. This effort aims to strengthen national AI ecosystems and expand access to AI-optimized supercomputing resources across Europe. The Serbian proposal SAIFA was accepted for funding, leading to the creation of the Serbian Artificial Intelligence Factory Antenna. Congratulations to the team that prepared the proposal!
This post coincided with President von der Leyen's visit to the Western Balkans, where she announced new European AI Factory sites in Serbia and North Macedonia. This move represents a key step in integrating the region into Europe’s growing AI ecosystem. These sites will offer local companies, researchers, and startups access to advanced AI infrastructure and expertise, fostering cross-border collaboration and encouraging innovation across the continent, von der Leyen stated.
The Serbian Artificial Intelligence Antenna Factory (SAIFA, pronounced "sci-fi") aims to become a national center that supports AI innovation throughout its entire lifecycle. It will offer access to computing resources, AI tools, curated datasets, and consulting services for academia, public administration, startups, and industry players. The factory will focus on vital areas such as culture and language, environment, health, and energy. Additionally, SAIFA will connect with existing national HPC infrastructure and collaborate with the EuroHPC Pharos AI Factory in Greece and IT4LIA AI Factory in Italy, facilitating validation, benchmarking, and scalable implementation of AI solutions across Europe.
The SAIFA consortium includes eight prominent institutions from Serbia's AI research sector:
- School of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade
- Institute of Physics Belgrade
- Institute Mihajlo Pupin
- Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research and Development of Serbia
- Faculty of Science, University of Kragujevac
- Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, University of Belgrade
- Metropolitan University – Faculty of Economics, Finance and Administration
- Office for Information Technologies and eGovernment
The partners' combined expertise spans both technical and non-technical areas, supporting SAIFA's objectives. The varied backgrounds of members enable this multidisciplinary team to successfully meet all goals. Each partner has led and participated in numerous EU-funded and bilateral projects, including Digital Europe, Horizon Europe, H2020, EUREKA, COST actions, and collaborations with leading academic and industry partners across Europe and beyond. This broad experience allows the SAIFA consortium to effectively deliver AI-related services within the project, aligning with scientific, economic, and societal priorities.
The establishment of these AI Factory Antennas marks an important milestone in expanding the reach of the AI Factories initiative. They will allow broader access to high-performance AI infrastructure and support Europe’s goal to advance artificial intelligence research and innovation.
On Friday, the EuroHPC JU also announced a major expansion of Europe's AI infrastructure, adding six new AI Factories to the existing network, bringing the total to 19 AI Factories across 16 Member States.
