Our aim is to enable data-intensive AI research and innovation for regional business needs and broader societal issues

About us

We are a research group within the “Technology and Society” group at the Western Norway Research Institute. The research carried out by the research group will be at the cutting edge of new developments in the field of Big Data and Artificial Intelligent Technologies to solve problems of regional, national and global importance in emergency management, critical infrastructure resilience, transport and mobility, energy, agriculture, and cybersecurity. Our impact focused research benefits from the skills and expertise of group members and is built around a number of strategic themes. The research group plays a key role in bringing research and the private and public sectors together as a community builder.

Our research group is connected to academia, industry, businesses and public administration in Big Data and AI via several partners.

Vestlandsforsking is an associate member of Big Data Value Association (BDVA/DAIRO). The Big Data Value Association has been established in 2014 as a European Private-Public Partnership organisation that works with the European Commission to identify research and innovation needs in the area of big data. In 2021, BDVA becomes DAIRO. DAIRO stands for Data, AI and Robotics (DAIRO). Our research group is the main contact point for BDVA/DAIRO at the institute.

NORA – Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Research Consortium – is a Norwegian collaboration between 8 universities, 3 university colleges and 5 research institutes within AI, machine learning and robotics. Together with our partners in NORA, we are strengthening Norwegian research and innovation within these fields.