On December 10, 2024, EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, the European entity guiding supercomputing development in Europe, selected the 7 AI Factories tasked with the strategic mission of accelerating technology transfer in AI and making Europe more globally competitive. Among these is the Italian platform “IT4LIA AI Factory”, which will be hosted at the Tecnopolo Manifattura in Bologna—already a hub of Italian and European innovation in HPC. The heart of the project is the creation of a world class AI-optimized supercomputer (4 times more powerful for standard applications and 40 times more powerful for AI-specific workloads).
An essential part of the project is also building an ecosystem to bring together research and industry, bridging the gap between AI service providers—researchers, developers, startups, and SMEs—and potential users, including large companies, SMEs, and public administration.
The goal is to have a concrete and decisive impact on the modernization of strategic sectors for the national economy, such as agri-food, cybersecurity, climate and Earth sciences, mitigating risks related to extreme weather events, and manufacturing.
The Italian AI Factory aims to become an attractive hub capable of connecting AI solution developers, companies in strategic sectors, academia, and the HPC infrastructure. This virtuous system will allow businesses to leverage new models and keep research constantly updated and evolving based on real-world challenges.
In this regard, the organizational model adopted by the AI Factories will follow a one-stop-shop approach, offering a comprehensive and user-friendly service to enable all potential AI users to access computing resources, expertise, and training opportunities.
“IT4LIA AI Factory” was presented by a consortium led by Italy, in collaboration with Austria and Slovenia, and is co-funded by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EU) and Italy (Ministry of University and Research, National Cybersecurity Agency, Emilia-Romagna Region, CINECA, National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Agenzia ItaliaMeteo, Italian Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Industry, Fondazione Bruno Kessler).
The IFAB Foundation will collaborate on the project implementation, which will be coordinated by the CINECA Interuniversity Consortium and include participation from various partners, including the ICSC Foundation – National Research Center in HPC Big Data and Quantum Computing, and Confindustria.
IFAB is proud to take part in the AI Factory, which, following a path already started, that has made Bologna a central hub for HPC and AI innovation, marks a decisive leap forward in digital transformation in Italy and Europe. This is a new milestone in the essential innovation journey that must transform scientific and technological expertise into solutions to today’s concrete challenges, from resilience to climate change, to the transformation of all strategic sectors of the national economy, to the training of a new generation of Data and AI specialists.
