Partners

The coordinator, is part of Europe’s largest application-oriented research organization, the Fraunhofer Society. In ACHILLES, the Intelligent Systems group focuses on responsible, trustworthy ML development, studying data-centric techniques, privacy-preserving methods, and model robustness, explainability, and model monitoring with transparent reporting. The Human-centred Design group explores incorporating human values using participatory and value-sensitive design techniques and evaluates the project’s impact during validation pilots.

Is a Fraunhofer centre, independent from FhAICOS. The Department of Artificial Intelligence of FhHHI focuses on methods and applications of deep learning. This includes an information-theoretical analysis of deep representations, the development of efficient data analysis techniques and novel deep architectures, and the use of SoA neural network models for classification and regression tasks on image, text, video and time series data. Timely research topics such as explainable artificial intelligence (XAI), its practical applications towards better models and datasets, interpretable and reliable machine learning, compression of neural networks or the convergence between machine learning and communications are also investigated by the group.

The Centre for IT & IP Law (CiTiP) is a research centre at the Faculty of Law and Criminology of the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), with currently a staff of over 85 researchers specialized in legal and ethical aspects of IT innovation and intellectual property. Researchers at the Centre for IT and IP Law focus on fundamentally rethinking the current legal framework, necessitated by the rapid evolution of technology in various fields, such as government, media, health care, informatics, digital economy, banking, transport, and culture. An intra- and extra-juridical interdisciplinary approach characterises their research, constantly aspiring for cross fertilization between legal, technical, economic, ethical and socio-cultural perspectives. The Centre for IT & IP Law has a solid track record as a law and ethics partner of large international and interdisciplinary research projects. It is internationally renowned for its expertise in AI & Autonomous systems, Data Protection & Privacy, eHealth & Pharma, Ethics & Law, Intellectual Property, Media & Telecommunications and (Cyber)security.

The University of A Coruña (UDC) is a public institution founded in 1989 whose primary objective is the generation, management and dissemination of culture and scientific, technological and professional knowledge through the development of research and teaching. The Centre for Information and Communications Technology Research is one of the four research centres of the UDC. Its main objective is to promote the advancement and excellence in research, development and innovation in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and to promote knowledge transfer and results to society. Research groups are divided into four research areas: AI is one of the main ones, comprising capacities in Machine learning, Computer Vision, Natural language processing, Intelligent robotics and Knowledge representation and reasoning with multiple national and international projects.

Specializes in EU Taxonomy, Business Intelligence, Life-Cycle Assessment, and Waste & Material Flow Management aligns with AI-driven data operations and compliance technologies. CTTI works to foster science, innovation, and technology to address Green & Digital Transformation challenges and enable companies and the public sector to comply with regulations like GDPR while creating value from data assets. CTTI’s interdisciplinary approach, promoting best practices and connecting science with society, supports the aim for open, trusted data spaces and sustainable data operations, contributing to the Green Deal objectives.

Is the body that integrates the public health service of the Madrid region, comprising a network of more than 30 hospitals, including the Hospital Universitario Clinico San Carlos, where the research group dedicated to ocular pathology and visual pathways, participating in Achilles, is located.

Affiliated Entity – FUNDACION PARA LA INVESTIGACION BIOMEDICA DEL HOSPITAL UNIVERSITARIO CLINICO SAN CARLOS (FIBHCSC): Hospital Clinico San Carlos has delegated authority to the Foundation for Biomedical Research of the Hospital (FIBHCSC), a non-profit, which will handle the financial and administrative aspects of the Hospital’s involvement in the project (including all issues relating to the employment and payment of additional personnel, purchase of consumables, etc). So FIBHCSC will participate as an affiliated entity.

Arcada University of Applied Sciences is a leading higher-education organization in Applied AI based in Finland, with a Laboratory focused on Trustworthy AI (TAI). Its role is to establish TAI as the basis for all AI use in organizations using a human-centric approach and ethically sound, evidence-based, and user-friendly AI use.

The Axiologic team possesses considerable experience in managing complex commercial and research projects, and their company strategy is tightly aligned with the objectives of the Achilles project, reinforcing their commitment to its success.

Is a leading Spain-based SME working on the Ethics of Technology and AI, offering professional and committed ethics support and compliance. European Research Executive Agency (REA) often invites our researchers and ethics specialists to be evaluators. They have expertise in ethics requirements and trustworthy AI.

Is a leading identity-proofing platform provider in Europe with a vision to make the connected world safer. The IDnow platform provides a broad portfolio of identity verification solutions, from automated to human assisted, from purely online to point-of-sale, each optimised for user conversion rates and security. Since its creation, IDnow has invested in research and AI technologies by recruiting a team of high-level researchers and R&D engineers and participating in collaborative research projects at the national and European levels.

Is a non-profit research institution, privately owned by IST and INESC, officially declared of public interest, created as a result of a reorganisation of its parent institution INESC. INESC ID now stands as one of the most dynamic research institutes in Portugal in the broad areas of computer science and electrical engineering. Our R&D activities focus on AI, information and decision support systems, graphics and interaction, distributed systems, communication networks, high-performance computing, nano-electronics and energy systems. INESC ID promotes cooperation between academia and industry by addressing research on daily life issues, such as healthcare, space, mobility, agri-food, industry 4.0, and smart grids. This high level of knowledge transfer is achieved through competitive research projects and directly contracted research.

Is an IT-Digital company, part of the PNO group, which focuses on the development of advanced digital / cloud solutions to support Innovation Management, Research and Innovation and decision support. It has strong expertise in developing enterprise software applications for industrial clients in several verticals and has a dedicated AI team which integrates AI/ML tools into INNEN’s software including Wheesbee, a proprietary cloud solution for supporting innovation management and data-driven R&I decision-making. It also has a strong expertise in EC funded projects in impact activities. In ACHILLES, INNEN will lead Dissemination and Communication leveraging on its existing similar expertise in several projects and using digital tools and will participate in WP6 integrating some of its technology in the Virtual Assistant and APIs.

Is a medium-sized research centre associated with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Coimbra. Several projects are financed by public and private Portuguese and European institutions. It has fundamental research in AI and mainly in its applications to Robotics, Perception, Biometrics, Cognitive Systems and more. In the field of Biometrics, which is directly related to this proposal, ISRUC has a long tradition in facial recognition for identity management, including related topics such as presentation attack detection, ICAO compliance of portraits, and morphing attack detection (MAD). In the latter, ISRUC has the second top position in the American National Institute for Science and Technology – NIST benchmark. ISRUC also has several projects running in Identity Management with INCM.

PNO Innovation will bring to this project its vast experience in managing and coordinating research and innovation projects, ensuring efficient execution of the project’s objectives in collaboration with FhAICOS (9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4). Additionally, PNO will collaborate with INNEN on communication and dissemination (8.1, 8.2), knowledge transfer (8.3), and lead networking (8.4). Furthermore, it will play a significant role in jointly exploring and developing a business plan with CTTI (8.5), aimed at maximizing the impact of project results and fostering innovation for the sustainable growth of the European Union.

The team is highly experienced in integrating new technologies within the stringent regulatory framework of the pharmaceutical industry. We excel in navigating complex enterprise environments, ensuring that innovative solutions are implemented effectively and in compliance with industry standards. Marco Cuomo, the founder boasts over 20 years of leadership in spearheading innovation within the pharmaceutical industry, guiding teams towards groundbreaking advancements.

The budget (in €) requested to SERI by the Swiss participant CUOMOIT includes 1034180 € (personnel), 0€ (other goods and services), 0€ (subcontracting), 250000€ (indirect costs) for a total of 1284180 € total eligible costs. CUOMOIT has the following Person-Months distribution among the Work Packages: WP1 – 7.00, WP2 – 4.00, WP3 – 3.00, WP4 – 10.00, WP5 – 11.00, WP6 – 8.00, WP7 – 38.00, WP8 – 6.00, WP9 – 2.00, totalling 89.00 PMs in the project, with strong focus on the use case concerning the Pharmaceutical industry.

The Portuguese Mint and Official Printing Office (INCM in Portuguese) is the legal entity in Portugal that produces all security documents, including passports and citizen cards, which also produces for five other countries. They are an Associated Partner with an interest in the commercial exploitation of several components of ACHILLES, be it individual modules or the ACHILLES IDE and its Copilot. The goal is to improve the AICeBlock project, carried together with FhAICOS, to accelerate feature development and improve its market entry as the first solution to support the continuous certification, validation, and auditing of ML-based solutions.