Nordic AI Research, Education, and Innovation Partnership
To formalize the long-standing AI collaboration between the academic AI initiatives in the Nordic countries, NORA, P1, WASP, FCAI and CADIA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The purpose of this MoU is to advance cooperation between the Parties to advance AI research, education and innovation in the Nordic region and beyond. The Parties aim to enhance research collaboration, promote knowledge exchange, and drive innovation by building on the strengths of existing mechanisms and creating new mechanisms and initiatives when needed.
The Parties’ welcome all the national AI societies to participate in these collaborative activities.
Guiding Principles
Focus on the unique Nordic advantages: The Parties aim to focus on the unique advantages the Nordic region brings to the global AI landscape, such as digitalisation, trust in institutions, strong democracies and social systems, and a strong public-private collaboration culture.
More edges, rather than more nodes: The Parties have strong regional research efforts in the Nordics. The Parties aim to strengthen productive communication channels between these nodes and towards strong European Initiatives such as ELLIS, CAIRNE, Adra and EurAI.
​
A visible collaboration: The Parties strive for the cooperation to be visible and branded under its name Nordic AI Research, Education, and Innovation Partnership, shorthand Nordic AIR or NAIR or nordicpartnership.ai. The latter is also the domain name for the partnership.
Navigating the different interests between industry and academia to prevent talent drain from the region: Acknowledging the different time horizons between industry and academia, the Parties will aim to bridge the gap between academia, the public sector and industry to prevent talent drain from the region.
Activities
Activities in line with the purpose and the guiding principles may include, but are not restricted to:
​
Nordic AI Ecosystem Advocacy: The Parties plan to raise awareness of the unique advantages the Nordic region brings to the global AI landscape, such as digitalisation, trust in institutions, strong democracies and social systems, and a strong public-private collaboration culture.
Joint Research Projects: The Parties intend to cooperate on AI research projects that address key scientific challenges, particularly those relevant to the Nordic region. These could include, for example, navigating the promise and perils of Generative AI methods in the public sector (e.g., primary education, municipalities, hospitals), or the development of large language/vision models for Earth Observation and Climate Studies.
Mobility and Exchange: The Parties will aim to facilitate researcher mobility between institutions, increasing the visibility and accessibility of existing funding sources to support this.
Workshops and Conferences: The Parties will aim to co-organize annual workshops, seminars, and conferences to exchange research findings and share knowledge.
Supercomputing Resources: The Parties will strive to explore opportunities to share supercomputing resources, strengthening computational capabilities within the consortium.
Industrial and Applied AI Collaborations: The Parties will aspire to act as a unified interface to academia for applied AI networks and industry and public entity stakeholders, offering insights and guidance on AI research that aligns with academic and applied industrial goals.
​
Expert Lists: The Parties aim to create lists of experts across the subfields of AI, streamlining access to these resources within the Nordics.
Signatories
The MoU is signed by the following initiatives:
​
-
Sweden: Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program (WASP)
-
Finland: Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence (FCAI)
-
Denmark: Pioneer Centre for AI (P1)
-
Norway: Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Research Consortium (NORA)
-
Iceland: The Center for Analysis and Design of Intelligent Agents (CADIA)