A new multi-million-pound European project is set to boost adoption of AI among businesses and researchers across the UK to help unlock untapped economic and scientific potential. 

The University of Edinburgh’s EPCC, the UK’s first National Supercomputing Centre, has won EU and UK Government funding to establish and operate the €10m (£8.6m) UK AI Factory Antenna (UKAIFA).

The initiative, led by the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), will focus on helping organisations take their first steps in AI, increasing literacy in the technology and its use, and showing how it can help increase productivity and deliver economic growth.

The project will employ a team of 20 full-time staff at EPCC and develop a set of services for the UK’s start-ups, SMEs, larger industrial companies and the public sector.

In particular, the AI Factory Antenna will build on the UK’s existing strengths and work with partners to accelerate the adoption of AI in sectors such as health, fintech, energy, creative industries, advanced engineering, and robotics. 

The AI Factory Antenna is part of the European Union’s AI Factories initiative, which fosters innovation, collaboration and research in the field of AI by bringing together computing, data and talent to develop AI for the benefit of all.

AI Factory Antennas allow countries outside the EU, such as the UK, to partner with an AI Factory to bring the benefits to their countries.

The UK’s AI Factory Antenna at EPCC is collaborating with the HammerHAI AI Factory, based at and coordinated by the High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS), Germany’s first National Supercomputing Centre, in partnership with a consortium of leading German academic research centres.

HLRS and HammerHAI will aim to work with its local manufacturing, engineering, and research sectors on better harnessing the power of AI.

The UK Government selected EPCC to lead the UK’s bid to secure an AI Factory Antenna through a competitive expression of interest process. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will contribute £2.5m of the funding.

The AI Factory Antenna will begin operations in the New Year.

Professor Sir Peter Mathieson, Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, said: “This significant investment underlines Edinburgh’s world-leading capabilities in supercomputing and AI. 

It also shows the important role universities have in deepening our understanding of cutting-edge technologies, blazing a trail for industry and the public sector, leading to economic growth and job creation. 

We are delighted with the funding and look forward to working with our partners to deliver on the UK AI Factory Antenna’s ambition for the whole UK.”

Professor Mark Parsons, EPCC Director and UKAIFA Lead Coordinator, said: “EPCC and HLRS have led the use of national supercomputing services in Europe by industry over the past 30 years. 

The emergence of AI as a key application of supercomputing, and this funding from EuroHPC and the UK Government, is now enabling our organisations to embark on this new collaboration. We’re honoured to be working with HLRS and the University of Stuttgart again.”

UK Government AI Minister Kanishka Narayan said: “This is another step in our plan to transform the UK into an AI maker. By working with our neighbours, we’ve giving our best and brightest access to the processing power, data and training needed to develop new breakthroughs in everything from healthcare to climate change.

Edinburgh is already set to become home to the UK’s most powerful national supercomputer, making it the perfect place to increase the country’s access to compute and strengthen ties with our European partners.”

Dr. Bastian Koller, Managing Director at HLRS and Lead Coordinator of HammerHAI, said: “Considering the shared commitment and expertise that HLRS and EPCC have in bringing HPC and AI to industry, the UKAIFA is a perfect match for HammerHAI.

It will enable us to build on our past successes to focus intently on the most urgent challenges European companies currently face in adopting and scaling up artificial intelligence applications.”

Dennis Hoppe, head of the HLRS Department of Converged Computing and project manager of HammerHAI, said: “This partnership reinforces HammerHAI’s commitment to advancing AI innovation across Europe’s industries. Together, we will contribute to accelerating AI adoption, providing secure and scalable AI resources for academia and business.”