For the second year in a row, the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology is Europe’s top-ranked university in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), according to the prestigious international CSRankings. The repeat win further establishes the Technion’s position as a leading institution in the field and creates a new community to empower students and researchers and promote collaborations with industry and academia.

The Technion’s efforts to promote its activities and standing in the field of artificial intelligence continue to bear fruit. In addition to claiming the aforementioned top spot for Europe and Israel, the University placed 16th in the world in AI, and 10th in the world in the subfield of learning systems.

The Technion’s in-depth and ongoing activity in the various fields of AI is reflected in, among other things, the recruitment of researchers and students from all Technion units to promote interdisciplinary AI research, and in increasing the number of new programs and initiatives in its various fields with leading companies in knowledge-intensive industries and top universities and research institutions around the world.

Against this background, the Technion is establishing its own AI community that will empower its student body and researchers working in all fields of artificial intelligence, and deepen the Technion’s many collaborations with industry and academia in these fields.

Some 150 Technion researchers are currently involved in Tech.AI, the Technion’s Center for Artificial Intelligence (formerly MLIS, the Machine Learning and Intelligent Systems). Tech.AI researchers apply advanced methodologies and tools at the forefront of artificial intelligence in a variety of fields including data science, medical research, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, architecture, and biology. The Tech.AI activity is led by Professor Shie Mannor from the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Professor Assaf Schuster from the Henry and Marilyn Taub Faculty of Computer Science: and Professor Shai Shen-Orr from the Technion’s Rapaport Faculty of Medicine.

“The Technion continues to establish its position as the leading research institution in Israel and Europe in the core areas of artificial intelligence, thanks to the unique work environment that exists in this field at the Technion,” said Prof. Mannor. “This environment currently comprises about 150 researchers from a variety of faculties, research centers with extensive activity, and a growing number of study programs in the field and research initiatives and programs that are the result of collaborations between the Technion and the leading companies and organizations in Israel and the world.”

“Solidifying the Technion’s position as a pioneer and world leader in the field of AI and spreading the knowledge acquired in this process to the commercial world in all its aspects, are very important national tasks,” added Prof. Schuster. “Tech.AI operates around the clock and through a variety of channels and activities to deepen Technion education that promotes AI research and its application in all faculties and research centers and to provide students and researchers dealing in all AI fields with the most supportive environment.”

According to Prof. Shen-Orr, who leads the biomed activity and AI solutions for the health sector within the Tech.AI framework, “the Tech.AI center brings together all of the Technion’s biomed activity in the field of AI and positions it in a dominant place in the world, with extensive partnerships with leading companies such as Pfizer and IBM and leading medical institutions in Israel and the world, imcluding the Rambam Health Care Campus and the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

Recently, an agreement was signed to establish a Zimin Institute at the Technion for AI Solutions in Healthcare at the Technion that will operate as part of Tech.AI. Companies in this industry and business are invited to make contact with Gadi Paran, the institute’s marketing director, to establish relationships and cooperation in a variety of AI fields. The Institute will promote interdisciplinary projects and develop technologies based on big data and computational learning to improve human health. It will support selected projects, giving preference to proposals that have an applied component and with the intention of establishing startup companies.

For more than a century, the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology has pioneered in science and technology education and delivered world-changing impact. Proudly a global university, the Technion has long leveraged boundary-crossing collaborations to advance breakthrough research and technologies. Now with a presence in three countries, the Technion will prepare the next generation of global innovators. Technion people, ideas and inventions make immeasurable contributions to the world, innovating in fields from cancer research and sustainable energy to quantum computing and computer science to do good around the world.

The American Technion Society supports visionary education and world-changing impact through the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Based in New York City, we represent thousands of US donors, alumni and stakeholders who invest in the Technion’s growth and innovation to advance critical research and technologies that serve the State of Israel and the global good. Since 1940, our nationwide supporter network has funded new Technion scholarships, research, labs, and facilities that have helped deliver world-changing contributions and extend Technion education to campuses in three countries.