The city of Guimarães has been chosen to host the Portuguese hub of the European Confederation of Artificial Intelligence Research Laboratories (CAIRNE), which brings together more than 27,000 members from 487 institutions in 39 countries. The new centre aims to strengthen Portugal’s position on the international stage in this field and stimulate research, exchange, investment and the ethical development of new technologies.

The centre is located on the Couros campus of the University of Minho and is coordinated by Paulo Novais, a lecturer and researcher at the UMinho School of Engineering. This professor is also responsible for the Associated Laboratory for Intelligent Systems (LASI), which is the largest in the country and brings together more than 500 career scientists from 13 R&D centres in seven academies. Researcher Manuel Rodrigues, from the ALGORITMI Centre at EEUM, is the national contact for ‘CAIRNE | Guimarães’.

The Portuguese hub was presented at the II Annual LASI Meeting in Coimbra and represents a very significant part of the national artificial intelligence community. It brings together research units from the universities of Nova de Lisboa (CTS, UNIDEMI), Coimbra (CIBIT, CISUC), Aveiro (IEETA, TEMA), Porto (LIACC, CMUP) and Minho (ALGORITMI, IPC), alongside the polytechnic institutes of Porto (GECAD, CISTER) and Cávado e Ave (2Ai). The network also includes other Portuguese research units and laboratories.

‘This is a decisive step for the country to consolidate its ecosystem and establish itself as a relevant international player in AI,’ stresses Paulo Novais. ‘This European network of excellence now recognises Portugal’s intense journey in the sector and allows us to accelerate scientific and technological cooperation between universities, companies and public entities, as well as contributing to attracting visibility and investors, supporting innovative and sustainable projects that strengthen Europe’s competitiveness and also continuously promoting the principles of ethics and trust,’ emphasises the professor at the UMinho School of Engineering and researcher at ALGORITMI.

CAIRNE is a non-profit association created in 2018, with headquarters in The Hague (Netherlands) and branches in Brussels (Belgium), Oslo (Norway), Paris (France), Prague (Czech Republic), Rome (Italy), Zurich (Switzerland), Saarbrücken (Germany) and, now, Guimarães (Portugal).

+Info: cairne.eu/office-guimaraes, lasi-research.pt, algoritmi.uminho.pt