After two rounds that attracted scientists from across the world, the Institute opens a new phase of recruitment
The Italian Institute of Artificial Intelligence (AI4I) is launching the third round of its Call for Founding Heads of R&D Laboratories. The first two rounds have drawn applications from researchers and scientists from multiple countries, confirming the strong international interest in AI4I’s model and research infrastructure.
This new call targets young, talented, and ambitious researchers interested in establishing and leading one of the Institute’s core R&D Labs in key scientific domains of artificial intelligence. AI4I welcomes candidates working across a broad spectrum of AI areas — Symbolic AI, Generative AI, Agentic AI, Physical AI — as well as frontier research fields such as causality, neuro-symbolic AI, self-supervised learning, and AI for scientific discovery.
Applicants may propose new R&D Laboratories in areas including Reasoning & Planning, Edge Intelligence, Advanced Computer Vision, Synthetic Data, Human–Machine Interfaces, and Controls.
AI4I Labs operate at the intersection of foundational research and industrial deployment (TRL 2–6), supporting innovation across strategic application domains such as manufacturing, robotics, engineering, product development, software development and testing, autonomous and decision systems, and new material discovery.
Location: OGR Turin, Italy
Hybrid work: Flexible arrangements available
Deadline: 31 January 2026, 11:59 PM CET
The role of R&D Labs at AI4I
R&D Labs form the backbone of AI4I’s organizational structure. Each Lab is designed to grow through industrial collaborations and competitive research funding, and sits at the frontier between fundamental AI methodologies and scalable real-world applications. Labs may integrate cross-disciplinary methods such as human-centered design, decision science or behavioral insights.
AI4I provides:
• Cross-laboratory collaboration and knowledge exchange
• A GPU-based accelerated computing facility and high-performance data infrastructure
• A dedicated Engineering unit specialized in HPC, software and data engineering
• Continuous exposure to frontier research through the FCSP Institute of Advanced Study (IAS)
• A wide network of international academic collaborations
• A spin-off-friendly environment supported by VC and accelerator agreements
• A business development unit that facilitates industry partnerships and access to European and national funding programmes
What AI4I offers
• A renewable 4-year appointment with a pathway to permanence
• Internationally competitive compensation and incentive schemes
• A start-up grant comparable in scale to an ERC Starting Grant
• Up to 90% tax exemption for eligible researchers relocating to Italy
• A relocation package for national and international candidates
Role and responsibilities
Lab Heads will design, establish, and lead an R&D Lab within the Institute, setting long-term scientific vision, attracting talent, generating research breakthroughs, securing external funding and developing reusable AI assets (frameworks, libraries, APIs).
Apply here
