Centre for Intelligent Computing (CIC)
Mission statement
The mission of CIC is to contribute to the forefront of AI research, building AI solutions in collaboration with different stakeholders (universities, industries and governmental institutions) as well as foster fruitful collaborations and discussions between the stakeholders.
About us
Artificial intelligence is currently transforming different trades and has a great impact on society. Joining the forces of the higher education institutions in Turku significantly strengthens the research on artificial intelligence in the region. At the same time, the new centre boosts the development of AI applications for industry and society. The financial administration of the centre and Björk’s position (newly appointed Director of CIC) are placed at Business Turku.
The centre is part of the TechCampus Turku of the regional higher education institutions which strengthens collaboration in technology education and research in Turku and promotes the shared use of research and education infrastructure. TechCampus Turku is a joint venture of the University of Turku, Åbo Akademi University, Turku University of Applied Sciences, Novia University of Applied Sciences and Business Turku.
“With more versatile collaboration between the universities and with external stakeholders, we can create an artificial intelligence cluster to Turku which has a profound impact locally as well as globally. Turku has world-renowned research groups in AI,” says DSc (Tech), DSc (Econ) Kaj-Mikael Björk, Director of CIC
“The higher education institutions in Turku conduct top-quality research in AI in many disciplines as well as in multidisciplinary collaborations. The topic concerns a much wider field than simply technology. The purpose of the joint centre is to strengthen this area of expertise, make it more visible, and to facilitate shared projects with companies,” says Vice Rector of the University of Turku, Director of TechCampus Turku Mika Hannula
Projects
The University of Turku and one of Europe’s largest private AI labs Silo AI, with its large language model (LLM) arm SiloGen have announced a large-scale initiative on open and trustworthy LLMs. SiloGen launches a consortium together with TurkuNLP research group to develop a family of open LLMs, including the world’s largest open source LLM. The initiative aims to ensure European digital sovereignty and democratise access to LLMs.
