Today, at the European AI in Science Summit in Copenhagen, organised by the European Commission and the Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU, Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen and Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva launched the pilot of RAISE – the Resource for Artificial Intelligence Science in Europe. This new virtual institute is a flagship initiative under the Apply AI Strategy and the European Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Science. It will bring together essential resources for developing AI and applying it to drive transformative scientific breakthroughs: from improving cancer treatments to solving environmental issues, improving predictions of the impact of earthquakes, and more. The RAISE pilot will be funded with €107 million under Horizon Europe.

Drawing on the EU's proven capacity to tackle complex challenges through collective action, RAISE will support the EU's goals to put science and technology at the heart of its economy, maintaining its leadership in fundamental research, to let innovation serve humanity, and to welcome global talent to Choose Europe. As such, it will contribute to bolstering Europe's competitiveness, driving it towards a new age of invention and ingenuity, and will reinforce its technological sovereignty.

RAISE by and for scientists

RAISE will be a virtual European institute, pooling and coordinating core AI resources, including computational power, data, talent and research funding across the EU Member States and the private sector, to drive both the development of frontier AI and AI-enabled scientific progress.

Key elements of RAISE are:

• Computational power: Access to AI computational power is important for researchers and startups in Europe. RAISE will secure dedicated access time to AI Gigafactories, through the financial contribution of €600 million from the Horizon Europe programme. RAISE will collaborate with the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) to guarantee availability and ensure priority for EU-funded research projects.
• Data: RAISE will support scientists to identify strategic data gaps and to gather, curate and integrate the datasets needed for AI in science.
• Excellence and skills: RAISE will attract global scientific talent and highly skilled professionals to Choose Europe. This includes €75 million under the RAISE pilot for Networks of Excellence and Doctoral Networks to train, retain and attract the best AI and scientific talent.
• Research funding: the Commission aims to double Horizon Europe's annual investments in AI to over €3 billion, including doubling funding for AI in science.

The European AI in Science Summitwas also the occasion to present the first step of the RAISE pilot: the Coordination and Support Action for ‘Facilitated cooperation for AI in science,' funded with €3 million by Horizon Europe. This Action will connect and interlink the AI in science community across Europe, to support the development of RAISE with and for researchers and innovators.