Olena Kushakovska, a graduate in applied mathematics and Senior Development Manager at SAP, and Jean-Michel Sauvage, an engineer by training and Director of R&D solutions at Amadeus IT Group, have been leading the Industrial Council of Artificial Intelligence Research (ICAIR) since 2020. These two specialists have been chosen to be the pilots of this industrial council for research around AI. Their goal is to accelerate work on AI while focusing on sustainability.
ICAIR, the Council for working around sustainable AI
ICAIR is made up of major French and international groups touching the entire ecosystem of the 3IA label of the French Riviera. They include:
- The 13 companies involved: Accenture, ACRI-ST, AIR FRANCE-KLM, Amadeus, ARM, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM, NXP Semiconductors, Orange, Renault Software Labs, SAP Labs France, STMicroelectronics and Thales Alenia Space.
- Academic structures: 3IA Institute, UCA (Université Côte d’Azur), Côte d’Azur Schools & Research Centers
- Associations: Telecom Valley, Pole SCS
- Institutions: Maison de l’Intelligence Artificielle (MIA), OTESIA, EuropIA
ICAIR wants to launch AI-related initiatives while bringing the UN’s sustainable development goals closer.
Jean-Michel Sauvage explains in his remarks, the scope of ICAIR:
“ICAIR has been thought of in such a way that researchers from Sophia Antipolis companies hosting research laboratories working in different industrial contexts, and on different topics, can discuss and exchange views on common issues related to the use of AI in their respective industries.”
Olena Kushakovska completes:
“Our goal is to work on joint projects and exchange best practices in machine learning and artificial intelligence. This will help advance AI research. Finally, we plan to use our joint power to promote the Côte d’Azur as a cradle of sustainable AI.”
Sustainable AI is thus the theme of the ICAIR program. According to those involved, AI can be designed and used sustainably and can deliver value in a way that respects the planet and communities while achieving UN goals within industries.
The involvement of Olena Kushakovska and Jean-Michel Sauvage
ICAIR seeks to focus on applied research. It aims to be a means of linking fundamental research and academic results in order to apply them in an industrial environment. The 13 companies that make up this Council will work on joint projects and exchange best practices in AI and machine learning. One of the objectives is to ensure that the Côte d’Azur can be “a cradle of sustainable AI”.
Olena Kushakovska expressed Amadeus and SAP’s commitment to the ICAIR program:
“Amadeus and SAP are founding members of ICAIR. The decision to move forward was made between Gilles Floyrac and me about 2 years ago. Gilles was the president of Amadeus Nice at the time and the Côte d’Azur region had just been awarded the 3IA label. His idea was for companies to drive the industrial agenda alongside the academic world. Over 60 companies in the area supported the 3IA project. We contacted the companies we thought might be interested (e.g. IBM, ARM, NXP, Thales Alenia Space, Orange) and the “Club” was born. The set-up meeting between site managers to seal the club was held at Amadeus and then the 1st working session took place at SAP in June 2019.”
Jean-Michel Sauvage spoke about the issue that motivated him to join this project:
“As AI techniques are not specific to solving a problem, this initiative is motivated by the strong belief that companies, even when working in different sectors, can benefit from learning and sharing experiences on the challenges they face on similar technical problems.”
Translated from ICAIR : focus sur le Conseil Industriel sur la recherche en intelligence artificielle piloté par SAP et Amadeus
