European Lighthouse of AI for Sustainability (ELIAS) is a network of excellence that builds on and extends the ELLIS (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems) network. It brings together 35 partners across 17 countries in a 48-month project funded with € 11,030,575.

The ELIAS Virtual Centre of Excellence is the scientific and research backbone of the network. It acts as an expansive, distributed network of top-tier research institutes and does not explicitly mandate dedicated physical spaces, focusing instead on collaborative research work. To apply, an institution must already be a member of an existing ELLIS Unit.

ELLIS Unit Freiburg, represented by the University of Freiburg, is among the new members of the ELIAS Virtual Centre of Excellence.

Key figures

Either the four-stat strip (17 Countries · 35 Partners · 48 Months · € 11.030.575,00 Funding) as styled text, or crop slide 3 whole — it already pairs the numbers with a green Europe map and is on-brand.

ELIAS is organised around three research spheres and three enabling objectives:

1. AI for a Sustainable Planet (SO1): data-driven modelling of physical systems; AI for fast scientific computations; AI algorithms for coordinated use of resources

2. AI for a Sustainable Society (SO2): sustainable AI for design problems; AI algorithms to protect democracy; AI for inclusive and sustainable prosperity; energy-efficient AI models

3. Trustworthy AI for Individuals (SO3): algorithmic fairness; cognition-aware hybrid decision making systems; privacy-preserving machine learning; personalisation vs diversification

4. Fostering the next generation of AI talents (SO4)

5. Building up the AI Lighthouse and reinforcing the world-class EU AI community (SO5)

6. Supporting AI research in startups and industry (SO6)

ELIAS brings together 35 partners in 17 countries. The most recent expansion added 15 new member organisations across 7 newly represented countries, engaging 10 ELLIS Units and covering the three core research dimensions: planet, society, and individual.

• Spain — ELLIS Unit Barcelona: Computer Vision Center (CVC), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), University of Barcelona (UB) · ELLIS Unit Madrid: Universidad de Alcalá (UAH), Universidad Carlos III (UC3M)

• Germany — ELLIS Unit Berlin: BIFOLD · ELLIS Unit Freiburg: University of Freiburg (UFR) · ELLIS Unit Jena: Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU)

• Austria — ELLIS Unit Graz: Graz University of Technology (TUG) · ELLIS Unit Vienna: ISTA

• Netherlands — ELLIS Unit Delft: Delft University of Technology (TUD)

• Belgium — ELLIS Unit Leuven: KU Leuven

• Italy — ELLIS Unit Turin: Politecnico di Torino

• Ukraine — ELLIS Unit Lviv: Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU)

• Networking & workshops: Bringing together researchers, industry leaders, and other stakeholders to explore industrial trends, identify needs, and align them with AI capabilities across Europe.

• Talent development: PhDs and postdocs benefit from joint supervision by leading scientists, fostering collaborations between Machine Learning/AI and other research fields.

• Mobility programs: Offering PhD students and postdoctoral researchers across Europe opportunities to expand networks, gain new perspectives, and collaborate with leading institutions.

• Joint projects & publications: Supporting long-term cooperation and joint scientific publications among members, strengthening research excellence across institutions.

• ELIAS Alliance: Nodes designed to amplify locally developed AI and science-based innovations, acting as integral parts of a pan-European network fostering AI entrepreneurship.

Bringing together researchers, industry leaders, and stakeholders across Europe to explore industrial trends, identify needs, and align them with AI capabilities.

• March 2026: ELIAS, ELLIOT & ENFIELD Theme Development Workshop on Trustworthy AI

• May 2026: ELLIS Milan + RIKEN AIP: Joint ELIAS Workshop

• July 2026: The Workshop on Multimodal Foundation Models: Research to Innovation, and the ELLIS, ELLIOT, ELIAS, ELSA HCML Workshop

PhDs and postdocs benefit from joint supervision by leading scientists, fostering collaborations between Machine Learning/AI and other research fields.

• AI-preneurship Day (March 2026): Interactive sessions and keynote speakers sharing entrepreneurial experience in AI across diverse roles.

• How to be a (Startup-) CTO? (August/September 2026): Strategic track covering technology strategy, roles & responsibilities, scaling teams, and security.

• ELIAS Startup Opportunities (ongoing): Platform matching AI researchers with startups across Europe, including support for mobility grants.

Offering PhD students and postdoctoral researchers across Europe the opportunity to expand their networks, gain new perspectives, and collaborate with leading institutions in the ELIAS network.

Eligible activities: open to PhD students and postdocs · research exchanges in academia (up to 6 months) or industry (up to 3 months) · visits to a researcher in the ELIAS network to promote shared research goals · research exchanges or attendance at specific scientific events and workshops.

Funding and scope: up to € 2,400 per year of funding support · facilitates travel from and to Europe · 100 visits and over 20 years of cumulative visit time so far

ELIAS supports long-term scientific cooperation through open-access research dissemination. Joint projects and joint scientific publications are collected in the ELIAS Open Research Repository on Zenodo, fostering deep, continuous collaboration across European research nodes to build a robust scientific backbone for sustainable AI.

The ELIAS Alliance creates a European entrepreneurship layer connecting research, startup pathways and regional innovation ecosystems. It is the sciencepreneurial and innovation engine of the network, complementing the Virtual Centre of Excellence: it requires a dedicated physical co-working or lecturing space with co-branding commitments, acts as a local hub bridging technical researchers and business schools to form startup teams, and calls for structured consortia backed by C-level support letters.

Its components: Open Source Foundation Models · Innovation PhD · AI Launchpad · FROntier AI Award · annual conferences, bi-weekly meetings and a coordinating office.

Alliance nodes are active in 8 cities across 6 countries: Cambridge (UK), Amsterdam (NL), Copenhagen (DK), Potsdam (DE), Tübingen (DE), Munich (DE), Zurich (CH) and Barcelona (ES). The Alliance connects academia and business, opens access to regional entrepreneurial and industrial ecosystems, and supports entrepreneurship and open-source foundation model development.

The Alliance launched in 2024 at Falling Walls, Berlin, held its first annual meeting and Sciencepreneurship Award in 2025, and has a second call for nodes ongoing in 2026.

• Is it possible to reimburse travel expenses for attending a workshop?

  ELIAS funding is available only for the mobility program. New consortium members must ensure their own funding to participate in the project and its work packages, including travel expenses incurred in connection with participation in workshops and/or project meetings.

• If one institution from a unit joins the network, can other institutions from the same unit still join?

  Applications are submitted individually, each institution separately. Every institution or organisation from the same unit is welcome to join the network and contribute to different work packages. For example, within ELLIS Unit Madrid both Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and Universidad de Alcalá joined as new ELIAS members, alongside Universidad Autónoma, Complutense, Politécnica and Rey Juan Carlos.

• How do I contact the researchers and stay updated on the project?

  A dedicated mailing list will be set up for ELIAS Virtual Centre members to share information on the consortium and new research projects, and a dedicated newsletter distributes regular updates. Email contacts for individual Work Package leaders can also be provided.

• How can I share information, updates, or research proposals with the consortium?

  Write to elias-coordination@unitn.it to have news, updates or new research projects shared via the mailing list or the newsletter. You can also reach out directly to the relevant Work Package leaders.