Institute of Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology open in Sofia

Bulgaria is to invest BGN 170 million in the new Institute of Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology INSAIT. It is the first of its kind in Eastern Europe and is established in partnership between Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and two of the leading technological universities in the world - the Swiss ETH Zurich and EPFL. 

The technology giants Google, DeepMind and Amazon Web Services are to support the project. Google and DeepMind will invest nearly BGN 6 million in INSAIT over the next three years, and Amazon Web Services - nearly BGN 7 million.

The architect of INSAIT is Prof. Martin Vechev from ETH Zürich - a leading world scientist in the field of computer science and artificial intelligence.

Among th guests at the opening ceremony on Monday were Bulgaria’s President Rumen Radev, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, Federal Minister of Economic Affairs, Education and Research and President of Switzerland (2021) Guy Parmelin, EU Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, US Ambassador Herro Mustafa, leading scientists from Switzerland, USA, Israel and Bulgaria, representatives of academia and business from Bulgaria and abroad. Among them were Turing Award winner (the Computer Nobel) Prof. Shafi Goldwasser of MIT and Berkeley, Nobel laureate and driver of the Israeli startup revolution Dan Shechtman.