11 NEWSFEED Updates & upgrades
SCIENTISTS MAKE PLANS FOR EUROPEAN AI
What’s on the Christmas list for European scientists this year? A new world-class hub for AI research. The proposed European Lab for Learning & Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) would aim to become a major world centre for AI, and compete with growing AI research in China and the US. In an open letter signed by top European academics and scientists, the ELLIS proposal recognised that European funding for research in machine learning and AI has fallen behind these competitors and that the founding of a new research lab would be a way to promote both European scientific advancement and economic investment.
“There are still a few machine learning and perception research hotspots in Europe that play in the international top league,” says the ELLIS letter. “Virtually all of the top people in those places are continuously being pursued for recruitment by US companies. “Even if we only wanted to retain these centres, we would need to increase our investments in line with what other countries are doing. To strengthen our position, we need to build on what is strong in Europe, think big and have the courage to try new models. We believe our best bet is for the outstanding centres in Europe to join forces.”
The open letter notes that “there is no shortage of funding for AI research, but it is extremely hard to attract outstanding researchers”. The proposed solution is “to offer positions with outstanding academic freedom and visibility”. The ELLIS programme would perform fundamental research in modern AI, spawn start-ups in the field, and aim to foster economic development and use of AI to improve the lives of people. It would be a top employer, “on a par with Berkeley, Stanford, CMU, and MIT” and become a world-class venue to get trained in the field. You can read the entire letter here: https://ellis-open-letter.eu
RISE FOR FEMALE BROADCAST MENTORS
Rise, UK-based advocate group for gender diversity in broadcast manufacturing and services, has announced the pairings for its first professional mentoring scheme. The new programme will see 17 female broadcast industry leaders offering one-on-one mentorship to women at various career levels. Each mentoring placement involves 12 hours of contact, the opportunity to meet fellow mentees on a monthly basis, plus attend networking events and workshops throughout a six-month period. The mentees were chosen from over 35 applications and are all based in the UK. The programme is sponsored Clear-Com, Avid, Bubble Agency, Pixelogic, Sony DADC, Sohonet and Hootsuite. Rise membership is free. Details are available at http://risewib.com
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