Top Five Projects: Center for Artificial Intelligence & Data Science

Overview

The Israeli government has identified AI as a national priority with the goal of becoming a top five global AI superpower in the coming decade. This multidisciplinary center is leveraging TAU’s standing as Israel’s AI leader – and strong links with industry, hospitals and the defense establishment – to help fulfill the academic goals of the national AI plan: advancing both core AI and its application across diverse domains where TAU excels, including economics, healthcare,
smart cities, security, and more.
TAU is ideally positioned to take on this challenge. It is Israel’s undisputed AI leader, with more prestigious grants, publications and industry ties than any other institution – as well as the #1 group in the country for algorithms. TAU’s AI experts advise and serve as lead scientists at Israel’s top corporations and agencies, and collaborate with the world’s leading research institutions, among them MIT, Stanford, and the European Human Brain Project, as well
as with industry giants including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Nvidia and Amazon.

Impact 

The Center is unleashing exciting new research directions and breakthroughs that could help shape the global AI market and reinforce Israel’s standing as an international technology trailblazer. Among the Center’s achievements since its inception:

• Funded 145 projects, awarding a total of $18 million to over 200 affiliated faculty members, in foundational AI research as well as in healthcare and personalized medicine, sustainability, cybersecurity, education, and more.
• Forged collaborations with Google and Intel, as well as with government institutions, hospitals and HMOs.
• Hosted a wide range of seminars, workshops and conferences, resulting in the establishment of 13 interdisciplinary AI research communities in fields ranging from health & biomedicine to ethics and law.
• Bolstered the computational resources needed for state-of-the-art AI research.
• Initiated educational programs, including an AI minor for undergraduate students, and a direct PhD program in AI and Data Science.

A substantial endowment will secure the Center’s future, enabling it to continue to deepen and disseminate AI expertise, further boost Israel’s flourishing high-tech and biotech industries, and create new opportunities in personalized medicine, drug design, materials science, cybersecurity and many other fields.