KTH's AI research - at the heart of a global transformation
As Sweden's leading university of technology, KTH has for decades laid the foundation for advanced technology development, through pioneering research in areas such as basic mathematics, machine learning, deep learning and software engineering.
Establishment of a strategic AI centre
AI is developed at the intersection of several technical disciplines - and KTH is one of the few universities in Sweden that brings together deep expertise in all of these areas. With leading researchers and a strong tradition of interdisciplinary collaboration, KTH actively contributes to the development of robust, ethical and reliable AI systems that have direct application in critical societal areas such as medicine, energy, civil engineering, transport and the environment. It is technology development with societal benefit in focus. Over the past decades, AI research at KTH has developed strongly. But to meet society's growing needs and live up to the ambition recently highlighted by the Swedish AI Commission - to build strong national centres of excellence - a new step is now required. KTH wants to gather, strengthen and accelerate the AI research that is already underway, and at the same time focus on collaboration, visibility and long-term excellence.
We are therefore in the starting blocks to establish a strategic AI centre that will act as a unifying force, stimulate collaboration across disciplines and sectors, and contribute to Sweden's ability to develop competitive, sustainable and fair AI technology. The focus will be on three prioritised research areas within AI:
AI foundations: Efforts will focus on strengthening the theoretical and computational foundations of AI, ensuring future systems are robust, transparent and reliable. This area includes the study of theoretical models for efficient learning and optimisation in AI, as well as critical issues such as ethics, fairness and liability.
AI for scientific discovery: Here, AI will be harnessed to accelerate advanced data analysis with generative machine learning tools and complex simulations that are physics and maths-aware, leading to breakthroughs in medicine, life sciences, physics and materials science, thus enabling scientific discoveries.
AI for technology and society: Research efforts in this area will focus on applying AI to engineering and industrial design as well as to societal applications, thereby improving key systems and infrastructures essential to modern society, including robotics, communication networks, transport systems and power grids.
Societal benefit in focus
Through the initiative, KTH will bring together a team covering the diversity and breadth of AI research conducted at KTH, spanning mathematics, computer science, robotics and control systems. The team has the capacity and experience to leverage existing KTH initiatives such as Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program, WASP, KTH Digital Futures, Swedish e-Science Research Centre, SeRC, Data-Driven Life Science DDLS and Cybercampus, where KTH is the principal. In an inclusive and open environment, characterised by academic freedom, conditions are created for excellent AI research at both basic and applied levels. For this to become a reality, long-term support is needed from committed partners - visionary philanthropists who share our belief that AI with responsibility, ethics and societal benefit at its centre is crucial for the future.
