Season’s Greetings 2025 from FCAI and ELLIS Institute Finland
In many ways it has been a groundbreaking year for the artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) research community in Finland. New initiatives are strengthening research capacity, expanding collaborative opportunities and establishing Finland as a leader in AI and ML. More about all the developments, and future directions, below.
Photo: Felix Polgar, Unsplash
In February, the national academic AI centers across the Nordics joined forces as the Nordic AI Partnership. The partnership will increase the visibility and impact of Nordic AI research, through joint R&D, innovation and education initiatives. The partners are Sweden’s WASP, Iceland’s CADIA, Norway’s NORA, Denmark’s Pioneer Centre and Finland’s FCAI. Joint activities include this year’s fifth annual Nordic AI Meet hosted in Sweden, and the Nordic Partnership’s booth at the recent EurIPS conference in Copenhagen.
At the largest conference in our field, NeurIPS, and its European offshoot EurIPS, we again saw more than two dozen accepted submissions from across Finland, many of them from our FCAI and ELLIS Institute Finland colleagues. The ELLIS-affiliated papers can be found here.
The AI Doctoral Program—10 universities, 100 students, and a new model for PhD education and research—received the Impact Award from Aalto University. The doctoral training pilot, in AI as well as other fields across Finland, was recognized for pioneering new practices such as innovation and entrepreneurship training for PhD researchers. Some of the AI Doctoral Program students are nearing the half-way point in their degrees and are already highly sought-after as future technology developers.
Lastly, but surely not least, the official launch of ELLIS Institute Finland at the AI Summit and the institute’s inaugural Scientific Seminar both took place in November. This marked a major advance for AI and machine learning research in Europe, as ELLIS Institute Finland became the newest expansion of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS). During this first year, ten principal investigators have been recruited and dedicated premises established on the Otaniemi campus. The institute is co-located with the recently opened LUMI AI Factory Hub—a place for training, networking and leveraging the next-generation AI-optimized LUMI supercomputer. The institute will focus on developing AI and ML for transforming R&D, enhancing human-AI teamwork, and creating exciting new science. Our second call for principal investigators is open until January 12, 2026 and we encourage talented researchers from around the world to apply!
As I remarked at the AI Summit, I often get asked if it feasible to do genuinely world-class research in Finland. Our growing community provides a clear answer. I would like to warmly thank everyone across FCAI, ELLIS Institute Finland, and our wider partner network for their commitment, collaboration, and excellent contributions. We invite new collaborators, partners, and supporters to engage with and build on this growing AI ecosystem.