55 million euro project for AI innovation in Europe: hessian.AI strengthens JUPITER AI Factory consortium
The Hessian Center for Artificial Intelligence, hessian.AI announces its participation in the JUPITER AI Factory (JAIF), a 55 million euro project to strengthen the European AI infrastructure. The collaboration will provide access to Europe’s first exascale supercomputer to drive the development of advanced AI technologies, establishing a one-stop-shop of AI services for European startups, SMEs, industrial companies, the public sector and the wider scientific and technological community.
Added value for Europe, Germany and Hesse
The JUPITER AI Factory acts as a central pillar of the European AI infrastructure and offers to strengthen Europe’s technological sovereignty and competitiveness:
- Access to the JUPITER exascale supercomputer for, among other things, training large language models
- Accelerated development of AI applications in the aforementioned key areas
- Promotion of innovation and economic growth
- Support for start-ups and SMEs in the development of secure, trustworthy and data protection-compliant AI solutions
The Jupiter AI Factory is working on the promotion of AI applications in the key areas of health, energy and climate change as well as the public sector, finance and insurance and manufacturing. hessian.AI is taking the lead in three other key areas, education, culture and media, and brings expertise in the areas of Large Language Models (LLMs), startup promotion and trustworthy AI systems.
Strong consortium for AI innovation
The JUPITER AI Factory (JAIF) is funded by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as well as the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Hessian Ministry of Science and Research, Arts and Culture, the Hessian Ministry of Digitization and Innovation and the Hessian Ministry of Economics, Energy, Transport, Housing and Rural Areas.
The Jülich Supercomputing Center coordinates the initiative. Other partners include the Center for Artificial Intelligence at RWTH Aachen University, the Fraunhofer Institutes for Applied Information Technology and for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems as well as hessian.AI with its AI Service Center hessian.AISC, the German AI Service Center WestAI and the German AI Association as an associated partner.
“I congratulate everyone involved on the inclusion of the Jupiter AI Factory (JAIF) in the EuroHPC funding. This is an outstanding success for the consortium. I am particularly pleased that hessian.AI has contributed to this success with its specific expertise in Large Language Models, in startup funding and in the development of trustworthy AI. The cooperation in JAIF will connect hessian.AI and the AI ecosystem, strengthen Hessen’s location and contribute to Europe’s digital sovereignty.”
Timon Gremmels, Hessian Minister for Science and Research, Art and Culture
“With our cross-departmental AI future agenda, we established a strategic framework for ‘AI made in Hessen’ at an early stage and built up application-related services in the field of AI. For example, companies, SMEs, start-ups, universities and authorities are already benefiting from our AI Innovation Lab when it comes to accessing AI computing clusters or receiving support in the area of AI quality from the AI Quality & Testing Hub. We are therefore delighted about the funding for JAIF, which will help Hessen to shape digitalization in Europe.”
Prof. Dr. Kristina Sinemus, Hessian Minister for Digitalization and Innovation
“By providing one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers for AI and the accompanying service offerings for the economy, JAIF will make a significant contribution to the development of AI applications and business models at the highest level. Hesse’s key industries in particular, such as ICT, finance, transport and logistics, will be able to benefit significantly from this. The involvement of hessian.AI in JAIF is proof of the outstanding work of the AI center, which has only been in existence for a few years, and the center’s strong position in the German AI ecosystem.”
Kaweh Mansoori, Hessian Minister for Economic Affairs, Energy, Transport, Housing and Rural Areas
“I am extremely pleased that hessian.AI is part of the JUPITER AI Factory. In the JUPITER AI Factory, we can contribute the excellent expertise of all Hessian universities bundled in hessian.AI and combine it with that of capable partners to further strengthen the AI ecosystem in Germany. In this way, we bring AI innovations into application and create convincing added value for companies and start-ups as well as for the public sector and scientific applications. As hessian.AI, we are contributing to strengthening Europe’s sovereignty and future in the field of AI as part of the JUPITER AI Factory.”
Prof. Tanja Brühl, President of TU Darmstadt and Chair of the Board of Trustees of hessian.AI
“Our participation in the JUPITER AI Factory is a quantum leap for Hessen as an AI location and strengthens our position in the European AI landscape. By simplifying access to exascale computing power and developing innovative AI solutions, we create concrete added value for companies and research institutions, for example by increasing the security and correctness of AI-generated code. This in turn strengthens trust in AI and thus global competitiveness.”
Prof. Mira Mezini, Co-Director of hessian.AI.
“It is a privilege to be part of the JUPITER AI Factory, which brings together outstanding partners. JAIF will enable startups and SMEs in Hesse, Germany and Europe to innovate faster and deliver trustworthy AI solutions. By making the exascale calculator more accessible, we could for example use tools like our LlavaGuard as a service to ensure the integrity of training datasets.”
Prof. Kristian Kersting, Co-Director of hessian.AI
Picture: Forschungszentrum Jülich
