Can Norwegian Industry Match or Double the Norwegian Government’s AI Billion for Research?
Should the Norwegian industry respond with a large funding instrument for research in industrial applications of artificial intelligence?
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only and should not be considered as representative of NORA’s official position.
In this article I explore the background for the Norwegian AI billion, and suggest that the Norwegian industry construct a funding instrument to match or double the national research effort by the government. Large investments in AI research are not unheard of in the Nordic countries with WASP — a initiative for AI in Sweden — recieving 4,9 billion SEK in private investments. What more can we do to in Norway to strengthen AI research?
1. The AI Announcement From the Norwegian Prime Minister
On the 7th of September the Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Støre held a much anticipated speech. In the month preceding there had been speculations by the AI community on what the announcement would be.
Would it be a new strategy or policy document?
Could there be any chance of any initiatives within AI?
The announcement had already been delayed by a month due to the extreme weather in August, so messages had been sent between people working in the field of AI wondering what the announcement could be.
On the 7th of September Prime Minister Støre and Minister of Education and Research Sandra Borch announced a billion Norwegian kroners (NOK) for AI research.
The announcement was timely, and it was to some extent unexpected. It is not self-evident that Norway would strengthen their research policy in the field of AI.
What’s the story of the Norwegian AI billion?
2. The Backstory for the Norwegian AI Billion
First off, I do not claim to know the whole story here. This is a snippet and a highly biassed representation of events. There must have been a range of talks and other details that I am fully unaware of. Regardless…
The Norwegian AI billion investment in research was promoted by NORA.ai as a step Norway could take to increase its effort within Norwegian research policy within AI. It was first mentioned during a panel debate by CEO of NORA.ai Klas Pettersen on the 22nd of March at an event at Norway’s largest bank DNB.
Later, the AI billion was mentioned to the prime minister by Inga Strümke an author of a best selling book on artificial intelligence in Norway called ‘Maskiner som tenker’. The Norwegian Prime Minister visited a university in Norway on the 6th of June 2023 to launch the planning for a new Norwegian Digitalisation Strategy.
At this particular event there was a closed meeting prior to the launch at the Norwegian Open AI Lab where the Prime Minister listened to students and discussed with researchers.
I am happy to say that as part of my job, I was a side character in this series of events. In the supporting cast so to speak, supporting the protagonists.
3. The Story to be Written About the Norwegian Industry’s Billion(s) for AI Research
There are many ways that Norwegian industry could strengthen Norwegian AI research. That being said, there are already significant investments from private companies. Most large AI labs and research communities in Norway work closely with industry already. There are also business collaborative efforts in structured programmes.
On the other hand, it would be interesting whether Norwegian industry could step in to strengthen Norwegian AI research with a strategic commitment that could contribute to further increasing our capacity to deliver.
Imagine the following news article:
“Norwegian Industry Creates a 2 Billion NOK Investment Fund to Strengthen AI Research.”
Of course, there are several ways that Norwegian companies could go about doing this. Part of it could be to gather several actors to go together in a research fund. Why?
Here are three initial points.
- Compute infrastructure is very expensive, and they could custom build available capacity to aid the national effort.
- There could be a structured collaboration on large scale industry PhD programmes.
- Norwegian industry could collaborate on a strategy to develop industry towards specific targeted areas.
Now that we have a clear signal from the Norwegian Government, we must consider how Norway can further strengthen its effort to become leading in certain areas or verticals within the field of AI.
What do you think? Is this a bad or a good idea? Should it happen? More importantly, who could make it happen?
UPDATE: on the same day I saw an article was published in Norway related to this topic.
The article argues from Signe Riemer-Sørensen, she has this advise for further strengthening Norwegian research on AI:
- “Don’t spread the funds too thinly.”
- “Also focus on AI-related education, continuing education and public education.”
- “Make data available in bulk.”
This is also part of my personal project #1000daysofAI and you are reading article 514. I am writing one new article about or related to artificial intelligence for 1000 days. The first 500 days I wrote an article every day, and now from 500 to 1000 I write at a different pace.
