Unit Sofia

ELLIS Unit Sofia, hosted at INSAIT, a leading AI and computer science research institute founded in 2022 with ETH Zurich and EPFL, conducts world-class AI research while attracting top faculty, postdocs, and PhD students. Its mission is to advance scientific excellence, generate societal and economic impact, and establish Sofia as a hub for AI innovation. Research spans machine learning, computer vision, and theoretical AI. The unit fosters talent development, prevents brain drain, develops educational programs, supports technology-based startups, and creates valuable intellectual property. By integrating foundational research with practical applications, Sofia strengthens Europe’s AI ecosystem and drives technological innovation globally.

INSAIT is expected to have transformational effects on society and the economy at large: attracting high-quality diverse talent to the region, preventing brain drain, creating new state-of-the-art educational programs, pushing towards a more product-driven economy by inventing high-valued intellectual property (IP), enabling deep research-guided technological companies, attracting big technology companies, and many more.
Research Areas:

• Computer Vision & Robotics
• Algorithms and Theory
• Quantum Computing
• Machine Learning
• Regulatory AI Compliance