Madrid, December 10, 2024.- The Government of Spain, through the ministries for Digital Transformation and Public Service and Science, Innovation and Innovation, will invest 61.76 million euros in the first artificial intelligence factory in our country. It is one of the first seven European Artificial Intelligence factories, which, as announced today by the European Commission, will be launched throughout the continent.
The Barcelona Supercomputing Center - National Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS) will house this factory that, along with the other six that will be built in Europe, will democratize access to the advanced supercomputing infrastructure of Europe, so that companies, SMEs and startups can take advantage of their resources, and not only the research community as it happens today.
The project, in addition to the support of the Government of Spain, will also have the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya, which will contribute 14 million euros, and of countries such as Portugal, Turkey and Romania, which will make contributions up to 98.86 million euros. To this is added the contribution of 98.33 million euros from the EUROHPC JU, institution that channels the initiative of the IA Factories.
“The government is betting strongly that Spain is at the forefront of innovation in AI, generating a powerful ecosystem of startups and companies around these new technologies. The development of AI requires a large computing capacity, which currently only large platforms offer, at a high cost, which not all can afford. That is why it is necessary to democratize access to innovation in AI, as we will achieve with AI factories,” said the Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Service, Óscar López.
For her part, the Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, has highlighted the commitment of the Government with a project that "will allow us to place Spain as one of the reference countries in the development of Artificial Intelligence and, in addition, encourage both the public and private sector to develop R&D projects with a significant impact on science and technology." The investment that will be made to make the BSC-CNS one of the first European AI factories includes, specifically:
- A suite of services to foster the innovative ecosystem around AI: access to optimized AI supercomputing resources, a workout data space, software libraries, and advanced technical support. It will also include a training program, startup accelerators, as well as the creation of sectoral nodes to promote the deployment of AI in sectors such as health, regulation, financial, public sector, etc.
- Upgrading the Marenostrum 5 supercomputer by acquiring a new cluster specific to AI training.
- A platform for experimenting with new technologies for AI, so that companies can test their innovations before they go to market.
‘AI Factories’ will be interconnected dynamic ecosystems and foster innovation, collaboration and development in the field of AI, bringing together the necessary ingredients – computing power, data and talent – to generate new AI-based technologies.
This programme is aligned with Europe’s strategy and the Draghi report to encourage the investment needed to create an innovative AI ecosystem, so that Europe not only improves its competitiveness and innovation in AI, but also ensures its strategic sovereignty and improves control over data and security, ensuring trustworthy AI models.