DATA4 is fully committed to advancing university research and digital development as part of their corporate social responsibility strategy. One example of this commitment is their financial support for a new AI computing workstation at the Sorbonne Center for Artificial Intelligence (SCAI). This purpose-built machine will be equipped with the latest graphics processors and used for research and teaching by the entire scientific community at the three Sorbonne University faculties. In particular, the workstation’s computing power will be useful for validating machine learning models. Research professors and researchers do not currently have equipment powerful enough to process their calculations.
The equipment is co-financed by DATA4 via the Sorbonne University Foundation and Sorbonne University as part of the Welcome to the Future fundraising campaign. It will be installed in the Pierre and Marie Curie (Jussieu) campus facilities in January 2022. Use cases include analysing marine biodiversity for the Institut de la Mer de Villefranche, predicting possible diseases using patient files for the Faculty of Medicine and analysing places in 18th century French literature for the Faculty of Humanities. SCAI will also take advantage of this additional computing power soon to expand their programming education platform.
SCAI is home to more than 150 AI researchers working in around twenty laboratories and has created one of the largest and most active communities in France in this field. This new equipment will enable SCAI to cement its status as an AI centre of excellence and strengthen its scientific standing within Sorbonne University.
This is a new approach to sponsorship for DATA4, a major player in the digital industry. It aims to promote collective intelligence to drive social innovation.
“By promoting development of concrete solutions to big societal challenges in this way, Sorbonne University strengthens the university’s academic standing as well as its national and international attractiveness while creating increased synergy with the financial sector. Along with our sponsor partners, we are advancing knowledge and introducing new forms of progress into society. We are happy that DATA4 supports SCAI and its multidisciplinary research.” Solenne Couraye du Parc, Executive Director, Sorbonne University Foundation.
“We believe that artificial intelligence, if used appropriately, will support development in many sectors such as health, transport and education. This means it is the digital industry’s responsibility to contribute to this global movement. That is why DATA4 decided to invest in the Sorbonne University Foundation’s Sorbonne Center for Artificial Intelligence computing workstation project. The future will be inclusive, responsible and built on technology.” Alexandre Delaval, DATA4, Country Manager for France and Luxembourg
“This workstation will have the latest graphics processors, enabling SCAI to make resources available to Sorbonne University researchers and labs and to the Alliance to test and validate their machine learning models. This is essential equipment that DATA4 is enabling us to acquire. It will allow colleagues in all disciplines to make progress on their work and it will support our lifelong learning and training initiatives.” Dr Xavier Fresquet, SCAI, Deputy Director.
“Supporting SCAI is not only an obvious choice but also a demonstration of DATA4’s deep commitment. First, the choice was obvious because data centers are an integral part of the AI ecosystem. In fact, most data processed by smart algorithms are stored in data centers. In addition, this project promotes research and teaching, which aligns with our DATA4 Good CSR programme to support the community. Furthermore, AI is an important mechanism for building a sustainable future for the data center sector. Integrating this type of technology into data centers will eventually make it possible to do predictive maintenance and even improve their energy efficiency.” Jérome Totel, DATA4, Group Innovation and Transformation Director.
