The Institute of Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski ”(INSAIT) was officially launched. It is funded by the Bulgarian government with $ 100 million, as well as by leading tech giants Google, DeepMind and Amazon Web Services.
INSAIT operates in partnership with the two largest technological universities in Switzerland – the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. Its creator is Prof. Martin Vechev, a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and one of the world’s leading scientists in the field of computer science and artificial intelligence. The aim of the project is to attract world-class educators in the field of computer science and artificial intelligence, to create global technology leaders and researchers, and to promote entrepreneurship and startup culture.
INSAIT will work for the benefit of the business, both in Switzerland and in Bulgaria, and will seek to keep Bulgarian scientists and students in Bulgaria. It will employ about 300 specialists – 30 professors and researchers, and around 200-250 doctoral and postdoctoral students. There will be separate masters, specialized in all fields of computer technology and science, artificial intelligence, machine self-learning, natural language processing, robotics and quantum technologies.
During its initiation, the INSAIT Foundation has benefited from the advice and support of relevant professors from ETH Zurich and EPF Lausanne, who will continue to support the institute with their scientific experience. In addition to professors from Switzerland’s top two technical universities, INSAIT will also draw on the know-how of world-renowned scientists from other leading research institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); University of California, Berkeley; Yale University; Princeton University; Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) and Technion – Israeli Institute of Technology.
People can apply for training at the institute through the website of INSAIT. Applications for doctoral students and researchers will be open all the time. There is a standard program for masters that starts in September. “We are open to candidates,” said Prof. Vechev.