“Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iași is a partner in the project “Romanian Hub for Artificial Intelligence – HRIA” (“HUB Român de Inteligență Artificială – HRIA”). The project is carried out under the Smart Growth, Digitalisation and Financial Instruments Programme 2021–2027 (PoCIDIF), co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Priority 4 – Development of Strategic Technologies for Europe – STEP, Call PCIDIF/709/PCIDIF_P4/OP1/RSO1.6/PCIDIF_A12 – Action 4.1 – Support for the development of Strategic Technologies for Europe – STEP. SMIS 2021 code: 351416.
The project is implemented by the National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest, as beneficiary, together with six partner universities: the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, the West University of Timișoara, “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iași, Politehnica University of Timișoara, the University of Bucharest and Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca. The consortium also includes eight innovative SMEs, selected through a competitive and transparent process.
Through its participation in HRIA, “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iași joins a national effort to develop an ecosystem of excellence in artificial intelligence. The project brings together research, development and innovation expertise and resources in order to generate results with an impact on the economy and to strengthen the presence of the Romanian artificial intelligence community at European and global level.
As a partner in the “Romanian Hub for Artificial Intelligence – HRIA” project, “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iași contributes, together with the other members of the consortium, to bringing together the researchers, expertise and infrastructure needed to develop a strong national ecosystem in the field of artificial intelligence. HRIA aims to become a point of convergence for research efforts in Romania, to strengthen the country’s scientific potential and to support the development of market-ready AI technologies that can be applied in several sectors.
The general objective and the specific objectives of the project were formulated on the basis of a SWOT analysis of the AI field in Romania, in a European and global context, carried out over more than three years.
By developing AI-based systems and services, through the presence of consortium members in several university centres across the country, and through collaboration with SMEs, the project aims for the Hub’s results to become known and adopted at national level. Our university’s participation supports this collaboration between research and the business environment.
HRIA’s approach is based on four complementary directions, connected through a continuous feedback process:
- Research excellence: developing and accelerating cutting-edge research in trustworthy AI, and turning the results into AI systems that can be deployed.
- Innovation and technology transfer: facilitating the transfer of knowledge and technologies for the development of AI-based products and services.
- Economic competitiveness: making use of the project’s results to support sustainable growth in Romania’s economic competitiveness.
- Cooperation: developing an active national AI network through collaboration between academia, industry and other stakeholders, around research, development and innovation priorities and the needs that have been identified.