Professor Samuel Kaski at the new ELLIS Institute Finland snagged a €2.5 million ERC Advanced Grant. It’s the only grant Finland got this cycle. This boost highlights Finland’s growing role as an AI hotbed.
ELLIS Institute Finland ties together 13 Finnish universities. The Ministry of Education and Culture backs it with €40 million. Peter Sarlin, CEO of AMD Silo AI, chipped in another €10 million for professorships.
The grant funds research to mash machine learning with human expertise. The goal: build human-AI teams to tackle science’s toughest problems. 
Kaski’s project focuses on machine learning that mimics real-world research cycles: design-build-test-learn (DBTL). The approach adds a human-driven re-design loop via simulation, closing gaps typical of current ML models.
This lets AI systems re-learn and adapt, overcoming failure in new or unexpected situations. The hope? AI that works outside the lab and drives real R&D progress.
Finland is pulling top AI talent and pushing Europe to build stronger, more collaborative AI systems.
Peter Sarlin commented on the funding in an earlier interview.
Professor Samuel Kaski leads ELLIS Institute Finland. This grant cements the country’s AI momentum.
