Students, researchers and entrepreneurs will showcase cutting-edge research and real-world artificial intelligence (AI) applications that can facilitate breakthroughs across healthcare, climate, robotics and other fields, as part of the first UCL AI festival.
UCL Innovation & Enterprise has joined forces with NVIDIA and HPE for the four-day event which will feature panel discussions, hackathons, and presentations from thought leaders who are developing the newest tools and products using AI. Attendees will explore the latest innovations as well as practical tools and technologies shaping the future of AI.
The conference is being hosted by UCL’s strategic partner, British Land, at One Triton Square, a joint venture with Royal London Asset Management within the Regent’s Place campus. UCL signed a memorandum of understanding via its London Office with British Land in 2023, with the aim of supporting growth in science and technology in Euston and Kings’ Cross.
Professor Geraint Rees, UCL Vice-Provost of Research, Innovation & Global Engagement said: "The UCL AI Festival highlights the tremendous power and potential of AI to revolutionise so many areas of business and research. From developers creating innovative tools to solve persistent problems, to researchers using it to answer the unanswered questions, it’s a technology whose importance is only going to increase. UCL is a global leader in AI innovation, highlighted by its strong partnerships with NVIDIA and HPE."
The conference will open with a two-day focus on the theme of building AI. Following a panel discussion on how entrepreneurs are creating startups in the new age of AI, more than 150 participants will delve into a two-day hackathon competition where start-ups and AI practitioners will further develop their skills and explore the latest tools.
Winners of the hackathon will receive tickets and funded travel to the NVIDIA GTC AI conference in San Jose, California in March. This portion of the event is organised by AI Engine, supported by industry partners like Cooley, N47, Crane, Dawn Capital, powered by a large number of technology partners including AWS and Anthropic, and leading European tech companies like Lovable, Prolific, Encord and Runware.
The following two days will emphasise research and innovation. The conference will feature a series of presentations highlighting how AI is facilitating new advances in important fields, and help participants better understand and use the technology. Leading invited speakers include Professor Lourdes Agapito (UCL Department of Computer Science) who co-founded the startup Synthesia, Utz-Uwe Haus, the Head of the HPE’s HPC and AI EMEA Research Lab, Andy Grant the EMEA Director for Supercomputing & AI at NVIDIA, and Professor Geraint Rees UCL Vice-Provost of Research, Innovation & Global Engagement.
They, and other industry leaders, will speak on subjects including taking a deep dive into the UK-LLM project that uses a model built specifically for UK public services using the Isambard-AI supercomputer; how generative models of the human brain are being scaled from a handful of GPUs to thousands, creating "healthcare digital twins" that transform neurology and treatment; the ways AI is being used to accelerate polar observation and climate modelling, providing real-time insights into the world’s most vulnerable ecosystems; and how academic research is being transitioned to industrial innovation and the new career paths being created in the London ecosystem.
Utz-Uwe Haus of HPE said: "AI is accelerating the pace and scale of research and innovation, unlocking unprecedented opportunities across healthcare, climate science, robotics, and beyond. The UCL AI Festival exemplifies this momentum by bringing together diverse experts and entrepreneurs, showcasing how they harness the latest AI technologies. Simultaneously, it provides a forum to explore the strategic responsibilities that come with them as the public debate is shifting from size and performance of AI supercomputers to that of sovereignty and control."
UCL has positioned itself as a global leader in AI research and innovation. Multiple AI-based startups and businesses have been spun out from UCL research, including the video production company Synthesia and the camera platform developers Camera Intelligence.
In addition, UCL is at the forefront of building the UK’s global leadership on the development of, safeguards around and the future of artificial intelligence. Its AI for People and Planet framework sets out its commitment to exploring the potential of AI as a force for good and to working with partners across the world to achieve this.
Professor Alan Thompson, Pro Provost (London) at UCL "The site of the festival highlights the economic opportunity for tech-powered growth as part of the life science innovation district which spans UCL’s campus across Euston and King’s Cross - UCL sits at the heart of this ecosystem."
The central London area is already home to world-leading UK life science and technology companies such as Synthesia, Autolus and Google DeepMind, and a recent analysis from UCL and Public First shows that the thriving area anchored by UCL, The Francis Crick Institute, and UCLH could add £3.5bn to the economy and create 20,000 life science jobs.
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