On Monday, April 12, 2021, the two platforms, TRAIN (Timisoara Research in Artificial Intelligence Network – AI Hub) and XAION (competition site) were officially launched through a press conference. On this occasion, Professor Bernhard Schölkopf, director of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Tübingen, Germany, one of the most influential researchers in the field of Artificial Intelligence in Europe, honored us with his presence. His work, for which he has received numerous prestigious awards, such as the “Körber European Science Prize” or the “German AI Award”, for which he was also included in the ISI Highly Cited Researchers, are landmarks in the field of machine learning, both theoretical and applied. He is also chairman of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS).

Another special guest of conference was Professor Pedro Real, from the University of Seville.

The conference was led by the rector of the West University of Timișoara, Prof. Dr. Marilen Pirtea, who together with the Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science Prof. Dr. Daniela Zaharie and the project coordinator Assoc. Prof. Dr. Darian Onchiș provided details regarding the AI Hub activity.

Also was attended by representatives of significant business partners and traditional partner institutions and addressed messages to those who attended the conference: Mr. Valentin Mureșan (personal advisor to the mayor of Timișoara, SmartCity and Digitalization), Mr. Sabin Totorean (Global Enterprise & Public Sector Sales Director, Nokia), Mr. Sorin Maxim (General Manager of ADR West), Ms. Cătălina Dodu (Global CyberSecurity Services PreSales Director, Atos IT Solutions and Services), Mr. Raul Horhat (General Manager, Cmed), Mr. Ștefan Iarca (co-founder XVision, beneficiary of a financing through projects with non-reimbursable funds implemented by UVT and dedicated to supporting Entrepreneurship and Start-ups).