Swiss expertise supports Bulgarian artificial intelligence centre
It is hoped that INSAIT will encourage research and jobs in eastern Europe.
Keystone/ Valentin Flauraud
Switzerland’s two federal institutes of technology have helped launch an $100 million (CHF93 million) information technology research centre in Bulgaria.
This content was published on
2 minutes
swissinfo.ch/mga
Português
pt
Perícia suíça apóia centro de inteligência artificial búlgaro
The Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology (INSAIT) was opened in Sofia on Monday.
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) and federal technology institute ETH Zurich both helped set up the centre and will continue to support its operations.
“INSAIT aims to become a leading international scientific institute for computer science, artificial intelligence and computational technology, and to build a world-class research powerhouse that aims to attract scientific and technological talent from the region and around the world,” read a statement from EPFLExternal link.
The new institute was also backed the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), UC Berkeley, Yale, Princeton, and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.
Large scale technology companies such as Amazon Web Services, Google and DeepMind have also lent their support to the ambitious project, along with Bulgarian enterprises.
INSAIT will focus its research on machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, information security, programming languages, formal methods, quantum computing, and computer architecture, and other tech-related fields.
Martin Vechev, professor of Computer Science at ETH Zurich, said INSAIT “has the potential to become a very disruptive initiative”.
Also at the INSAIT opening ceremony was Swiss education minister Guy Parmelin who met with Bulgarian and European Union officials. Parmelin later tweeted that Bulgaria is supporting Switzerland’s bid to be re-admitted as a full member of the EU’s Horizon Europe research programme.
Is reforming the Swiss pension system still possible, and if so, how?
Solutions still need to be found to meet the challenge of an ageing population and to improve the pensions of low-paid workers, the majority of whom are women.
Switzerland to step up humanitarian aid to Lebanon and Syria
This content was published on
The Swiss government decided to allocate an additional CHF7 million to the two countries in response to the escalating violence in the Middle East.
Report exposes widespread hygiene issues in Swiss hospitals
This content was published on
A Swissmedic report found that nearly all of the 25 Swiss hospitals inspected had issues with disinfecting, sterilising and packaging of medical products.
Swiss bank Mirabaud closes brokerage unit due to poor performance
This content was published on
The move spanning the bank’s global operations means a loss of 17 jobs, including five each in Switzerland and the UK, and seven in Spain.
Guterres condemns Israel’s plan to label UNRWA a terrorist organisation
This content was published on
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has spoken out against a law proposed by the Israeli parliament that would classify UNRWA as a terrorist organisation.
This content was published on
The Swiss federal technology institute ETH Zurich is the best university in continental Europe, according to the Times Higher Education ranking.
NGO accuses tobacco industry and Switzerland of human rights violations
This content was published on
The anti-smoking NGO OxySuisse has accused tobacco companies of violating human rights and the Swiss authorities of being complacent.
Ethical artificial intelligence: Could Switzerland take the lead?
This content was published on
The debate on contact-tracing highlights the urgency of tackling unregulated technologies like artificial intelligence (AI).
This content was published on
If death and taxes are the only two things that a person can count on, should the latter apply to robots as well, as they take over human jobs?
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.