About

Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Cloud (NAIC) is a five year project with three year funding support from the Norwegian Research Council (grant number: 322336) to establish a powerful AI/ML infrastructure in Norway that will foster AI education, research, and innovation. NAIC provides access to High-Performance Computing (HPC) resources and support for researchers, PhD students, educators, entrepreneurs, startups, and SMEs who are interested in exploring AI methodologies and developing advanced AI models and algorithms. Furthermore, the project provides inclusive training programs and resources, accommodating both individuals new to AI seeking an introductory level of understanding and those looking for more advanced courses to leverage the infrastructure for specific tasks.

Over the course of five years, the Norwegian AI Cloud will bring together leading experts in the field to establish an infrastructure that provides accessible, affordable, and easy-to-use resources for machine learning and deep learning. The consortium comprises a diverse group of partners, including UiO, NORA, NTNU, UiB, SIMULA, UiA, SINTEF, UiT, SIGMA2, and NORCE Research, all of whom are renowned leaders in their respective domains. By pooling their unique expertise and resources, the consortium forms a dynamic and collaborative team fully committed to propelling the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning in Norway.

Infrastructure model

The aim is to set up a hybrid cloud setup incorporating Ai/ML optimized infrastructure in partner sites, private cloud and public cloud. The attempt is to make it possible for the users to perform analysis on different platforms with minimal refactoring of their pipelines. The model goes beyond infrastructure as a service and will provide technical and research support for the users.

Budget

The project has a total budget of 91 million Norwegian kroner and out of that 49 million will be provided by the research council of Norway. The rest is an in kind contribution by the partners.