The ÖAW is part of the Austria-wide AI:AT consortium and contributes research expertise to a network that brings together AI infrastructure, data and AI services, training, guidance on trustworthy AI and matchmaking. Meanwhile, the ÖAW is seconding three staff members – Dr Katharina Röck, Dr Daniel Lehner and Linus Ersing – to the AI Factory, where they will play key roles in the areas of ecosystem development and training. AI:AT supports organisations when initial ideas, data or prototypes reach their limits: in terms of computing power, technical scaling, trustworthy implementation and access to suitable partners.
During the visit, the ÖAW delegation was given a concise overview of the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, the European AI Factories network and the AI:AT services. Pending the commissioning of the Austrian AI supercomputer from 2027, AI:AT is already facilitating access to existing EuroHPC systems such as LUMI, Leonardo, MareNostrum 5 and JUPITER.
Prof. Heinz Faßmann, President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW): “AI is transforming science and research, as well as production and service processes, at a depth and speed that are unprecedented in history. This makes the rapid and high-quality transfer into concrete applications all the more important if Austria is not to be left behind. AI Factory Austria is an extremely important bridgehead between excellent research, an innovation-oriented business sector and public administration.”
The event also focused on exchanges with start-ups and co-working teams. At the hub, young AI teams and research partners are working on concrete applications – ranging from enterprise AI, media and generative AI, through to health and bio-applications, and on to industrial AI, robotics and data infrastructure. Among those presented were Dobriy AI, Leibniz Mechanics, AIleen Health and Newsroom AI. These projects demonstrate what the AI:AT Coworking Hub is designed for: AI projects should not only be demonstrated, but also brought to fruition through access to expertise, computing resources, training and research partners.
Dr Karl Kugler, Co-Lead of AI Factory Austria AI:AT: “Discussions with the start-ups clearly demonstrate why AI:AT is needed. Many teams have strong ideas and data, but the path to scalable, trustworthy applications requires infrastructure, technical guidance and a strong network. This is precisely why, together with partners such as the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), we are bringing research, supercomputing and implementation together in one place.”
Dr Markus Stöhr, Co-LeadofAI Factory Austria AI:AT:“Ambitious AI projects require more than just good ideas: they need access to high-performance infrastructure, clear processes and technical support. This is precisely where AI comes in. We support organisations in making practical use of European supercomputing resources, whilst at the same time laying the foundations for AI-optimised capabilities in Austria.”
About AI Factory Austria AI:AT
AI FactoryAustria AI:AT is Austria’s national AI Factory within the framework of the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking. It is jointly led by the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and Advanced Computing Austria (ACA) and implemented by an Austria-wide consortium.
The partners in the consortium are: Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), University of Vienna, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), University of Innsbruck, Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), Johannes Kepler University Linz (JKU), the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), INiTS – Vienna’s High-Tech Incubator, and EODC – Earth Observation Data Centre for Water Resources Monitoring GmbH.
AI:AT combines AI-optimised high-performance infrastructure with a physical hub and supports organisations from the private sector, public administration and applied research as a market-neutral, independent access point throughout the AI journey – from the first use case to practical implementation.
www.ai-at.eu
Funding Acknowledgement
AI Factory Austria (AI:AT) is co-funded by the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No. 101253078. The Joint Undertaking is supported by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme and by Austria (BMIMI/FFG).