Project coordinator: Dragoș-Cătălin BARBU, PhD

Overall objectives of the project

• Establish a comprehensive national AI ecosystem in Romania, supporting research excellence, innovation, industrial transformation and the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence across the economy and public sector.
• Provide accessible, user-oriented AI services and advanced digital resources for researchers, start-ups, SMEs, industry and public institutions, supporting the full AI lifecycle from experimentation and model development to training, fine-tuning, testing and deployment.
• Enable secure, interoperable and trustworthy use of data and AI, through curated data facilities, controlled data access, responsible AI methodologies, model evaluation and practical support for compliance with European regulatory and ethical requirements.
• Strengthen Romania's AI skills, entrepreneurship and innovation capacity, through training and upskilling programmes, hands-on learning, mentoring, incubation and acceleration activities, and collaborative environments for AI experimentation and co-creation.
• Integrate Romania more strongly into the European AI and HPC ecosystem, by ensuring interoperability and cooperation with European AI Factories, Digital Innovation Hubs, Testing and Experimentation Facilities and other relevant national and European initiatives.

Project description

The "Romanian EuroHPC AI Factory at ICI Bucharest" project – RO AI Factory – is funded by the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) through the HORIZON-JU-EUROHPC-2025-AI call.

The RO AI Factory aims to establish a comprehensive national ecosystem for artificial intelligence innovation and adoption, acting as a service-driven platform connecting advanced digital infrastructure, expertise, data, skills and innovation support.

The initiative goes beyond providing computing infrastructure by delivering an integrated portfolio of user-oriented AI services for research organisations, industry, start-ups, SMEs and public institutions. These services will support organisations throughout the AI lifecycle and will facilitate experimentation, development, testing and deployment of innovative AI-based solutions.

The project aims to:

• provide AI tools, workflows and technical support for the development, training, fine-tuning, testing and deployment of AI models and applications;
• establish a one-stop-shop user support service, providing onboarding, technical guidance, troubleshooting, consulting and mentoring for users with different levels of AI maturity;
• provide curated, documented and interoperable datasets and enable secure and controlled access to public and protected data in accordance with data protection and FAIR principles;
• support the development and deployment of trustworthy and responsible AI, including tools and methodologies for assessing robustness, bias, transparency, risk and regulatory compliance;
• develop AI training and skills programmes, including hands-on learning and targeted upskilling activities for researchers, professionals, SMEs, public-sector organisations and other user communities;
• foster entrepreneurship and technology transfer through acceleration, incubation, mentoring, talent-hosting and collaborative activities for start-ups and SMEs;
• create physical and digital environments supporting collaboration, experimentation, co-creation and knowledge exchange between academia, industry, start-ups, students and public-sector organisations;
• strengthen cooperation with European AI Factories, Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs), Testing and Experimentation Facilities (TEFs) and other AI and HPC initiatives, supporting interoperability, knowledge exchange and cross-border collaboration.

Through this integrated approach, the RO AI Factory will bridge the gap between research and market deployment, reduce technological and skills-related barriers to AI adoption and support Romanian organisations in developing and implementing AI solutions effectively and responsibly.

Expected results

• Operationalisation of an integrated portfolio of AI Factory services, covering AI development workflows, user support, data access, trustworthy AI, training, mentoring and innovation support.
• Increased access to advanced AI capabilities for researchers, start-ups, SMEs, industry and public institutions, reducing technical, knowledge and skills barriers to AI experimentation and adoption.
• Development of secure and interoperable data facilities, providing curated datasets, controlled access mechanisms and appropriate frameworks for data quality, traceability, integrity and responsible use.
• Establishment of a practical framework for trustworthy AI, enabling users to evaluate and validate AI models in areas such as robustness, bias, transparency and risk, while supporting compliance with applicable European requirements.
• Strengthening of Romania's AI human capital and entrepreneurial ecosystem through training, hands-on skills development, upskilling, mentoring, incubation, acceleration and talent-hosting activities.
• Increasing AI adoption among SMEs and public-sector organisations, supporting the integration of AI technologies into products, services and organisational processes and contributing to competitiveness, innovation and sustainability.
• Creation of a collaborative national AI community, connecting research organisations, universities, businesses, start-ups, students, public institutions and innovation actors through dedicated hubs, events and co-creation activities.
• Strengthened integration of Romania into European AI and HPC networks, enabling interoperability, knowledge exchange, coordinated activities and collaboration with European AI Factories, DIHs, TEFs and other relevant initiatives.
• Ensuring visibility, uptake and long-term exploitation of RO AI Factory services and results through coordinated communication, dissemination, stakeholder engagement and sustainability activities.