The first international call for the selection of Directors of AI4I’s Research & Development Units closed on Sunday, April 13. AI4I – the Italian Institute for Artificial Intelligence for Industry – received an impressive and high-quality response from candidates around the world.
“This result is fully aligned with our ambition to make AI4I and Turin a global hub for AI research and innovation,” said Fabio Pammolli, President of AI4I.
Over 150 applications were submitted, particularly from the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
Initial analysis reveals a clear candidate profile: a blend of senior professionals and a high number of young researchers, with an average age of around 30. Many hold PhDs or postdoctoral fellowships from leading institutions such as MIT, Harvard, Berkeley, ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich, Ecole Polytechnique, and Oxford. Their backgrounds bridge academia, industrial research, and major applied research networks.
Alongside researchers from top European research centers like Max Planck, Fraunhofer, DFKI, CEA, INRIA, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the call attracted candidates working in the R&D departments of global industrial groups.
“This outcome encourages us to continue on the path we started in July last year,” added Pammolli. “The breadth and depth of methodological and application domains covered by the proposals are crucial to shaping our R&D portfolio. We’ve received strong ideas across the full AI spectrum: from deep learning to computer vision, from LLMs to HPC, from industrial robotics to advanced methods for optimization, control, simulation, and modeling. This is a foundational step in realizing the vision on which the Institute was built: investing in cutting-edge research with an almost obsessive focus on real-world industrial impact.”
On the application front, proposals span key verticals for the industry of the future: predictive maintenance, autonomous systems, cybersecurity, industrial digital twins, multi-agent AI models, and AI for advanced materials.
Based at OGR Tech in Turin and supported by major institutional and industrial partners, AI4I is now preparing to select the individuals who will lead its first R&D Units – the beating heart of the Institute. A decisive step in building a national strategic infrastructure for innovation and for the transformation of Italy’s production system.
