Norway Begins an Inclusive Process to Shape the Billion for AI Research
An inclusive process has begun with an advisory board from across the Norwegian AI community and consultative meetings
This article is a summary of the current outline to how the Research Council of Norway intends to include the AI community in shaping the one billion NOK funding for AI research.
Norway is set to spend a billion NOK on AI research. I wrote about this in one of my previous articles on Medium.
My colleague in NORA.ai also wrote an article about the announcement translating the original release, published in the Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Research Consortium translating the information from the Research Council of Norway:
What are the main ways the Research Council of Norway intends to include the community?
As far as I can see there are three main ways the Research Council of Norway (RCN) intends to include the AI community:
- By establishing an Advisory Expert Group for the initial phase.
- Through organising meetings gathering the community.
- Receiving written suggestions to how to organise the funding.
As such, the process is fairly clear with a rapid development outline.
Written suggestions by the 8th of November 2023 kl. 24.00.
The physical and online events are the 6th, 7th and the 8th of November.
The written recommendation from the Advisory Expert Group is due on the 15th of November.
Links to the events and the general information can be found here:
Who are the members of the Advisory Group?
As mentioned on the page:
The Research Council of Norway has assembled a broadly composed advisory expert group, consisting of Tanja Storsul, who leads the group, Arnoldo Frigessi, Cathrine Pihl Lyngstad, Eirik Andreassen, Ieva Martinkenaite, Inga Strümke, Jill W. Rettberg, John Krogstie, Klas Pettersen, Olav Lysne, Petter Bae Brandtzæg, Signe Riemer-Sørensen, and Tobias Mahler.
As far as what I can see from the online information I believe the following to be correct:
- Tanja Storsul who leads the group is Pro-Rector for Research and Development at OsloMet.
- Arnoldo Frigessi is Professor at the University of Oslo and also leads the Center of Excellence Integreat — The Norwegian centre for knowledge-driven machine learning.
- Cathrine Pihl Lyngstad leads the section for Data at the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration IT. She is also the chairperson of the National Research School for AI.
- Eirik Andreassen is a Manager at Digital Norway and has previously also led some inclusive policy shaping processes in Norway. Furthermore, he leads EDIH Nemonoor a collaboration for AI in business across Norway.
- Ieva Martinkenaite is SVP Head of Research and Innovatio at Telenor. She is also a member of the International Advisory Board for AI in Singapore. In addition to this she was an Expert Member, High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence for the European Commission.
- Inga Strümke is an Associate professor in AI at NTNU. She is also the author of a bestselling popular science book in Norway callsed ‘Maskiner som tenker’ (“Machines that think”).
- Jill W. Rettberg is Professor of Digital Culture at the University of Bergen. She is also the Co-Director of the Center for Digital Narrative (also a Center of Excellence).
- John Krogstie is a Professor in Inforation Systems at NTNU. He is also a Director at NTNU Digital. In addition to this he has for a long time been the driving force behind NOKIOS, Norwegian conference for ICT in the public sector.
- Klas Pettersen is the CEO of the Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Research Consortium (NORA.ai). NORA.ai is a consortium for AI, machine learning and robotics among eight universities, three university colleges and five research institutes all based in Norway.
- Olav Lysne is Director at Simula Metropolitan, Professor at OsloMet, Chairman of the Board at SimulaUiB.
- Petter Bae Brandtzæg is a Professor in media innovations at the University of Oslo and Chief Scientist at SINTEF Digital. Researching use and motivations of generative artificial intelligence (e.g. chatbots, ChatGPT) and social media, and the social impact of such technologies.
- Signe Riemer-Sørensen is a Research Manager and Senior Researcher at SINTEF Digital. Her work is mainly for the Analytics and AI team at SINTEF, specialising in industrial application of machine learning and AI.
- Tobias Mahler is Professor at the University of Oslo. He is also deputy director of the Norwegian Research Center for Computers and Law. His current research focuses on regulating robotics and artificial intelligence, as well as on risk-based approaches in law, including in the context of digital identity. He previously advised the European Commission on the Digital Services Act.
I hope this was helpful in getting an overview of the current process both in terms of how you can make your voice heard and the members assembled to help RCN in in this process across the Norwegian community.
This is also part of my personal project #1000daysofAI and you are reading article 516. 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. Adagio?
