Unit Norway

ELLIS Unit Norway will advance fundamental and applied AI and ML research to address societal, environmental, and technological challenges, with particular emphasis on the Arctic and the Nordic region. As an integral part of the ELLIS network, it will connect and strengthen Norway’s distributed AI and ML community while fostering talent, innovation, and strategic collaboration across institutions, industry, and society. The Unit will contribute Norwegian expertise and perspectives to the ELLIS community, strengthen collaboration with fellow ELLIS units and institutes across Europe, and help advance intelligent systems that are trustworthy, effective, and beneficial to society.

The research agenda will be structured around the following interconnected topics:

• AI Foundations: There will be a focus on advancing the foundations of intelligent systems by bringing together complementary perspectives on learning, reasoning, perception, and decision-making. This area will explore how these capabilities can be integrated to create AI systems that are more adaptive, efficient, generalizable, and capable of operating reliably in complex, real-world environments.
• Trustworthy, Human-Centred, and Responsible AI: The unit will develop AI systems that are robust, transparent, uncertainty-aware, and aligned with human and societal needs.
• AI for the Environment and Society: The unit will develop AI methods for challenges of particular relevance to Norway, the Nordic region, and Europe. Application areas will include, among others, health, climate science and Earth observation, environmental monitoring, and robotics, with a focus on innovation in industry and the public-sector.