ESSAI & ACAI 2023 will be organised by the Slovenian Artificial Intelligence Society (SLAIS), a member society of EurAI, the University of Ljubljana (Faculty of Computer and Information Science), the University of Primorska (Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Information Technologies), and the Jožef Stefan Institute.
About artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence research in Slovenia started in 1972 at the Jožef Stefan Institute (JSI) after the 5th IFIP (International Federation for Information Processing) Congress that was also held in Ljubljana. A few years later, first the AI Group was established at JSI, and soon after the AI Laboratory was founded at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Computer and Information Science. Both research groups were led by Professor Ivan Bratko. Since these early days, AI research in Slovenia has steadily grown over the years. According to SICRIS (SlovenIan Current Research Information System), there are now more than 30 research groups in Slovenia whose research is related to AI.
About SLAIS
Slovenian AI researchers and practitioners are associated in SLAIS (SLovenian Artificial Intelligence Society). SLAIS was founded in 1992 and is a member society of EurAI, The European Association for Artificial Intelligence. Currently, SLAIS has about 150 members. To put this number in context, note that Slovenia has a population of about 2.1 million.
Slovenian AI researchers
Slovenian AI researchers are active in diverse fields of AI, and have, along scientific papers, authored many books and AI software over the years. The most important in view of this bid is the organizing experience of the community. Over the years, SLAIS or its members have organized many international events from small workshops and summer schools to major conferences. To date the most important ones have been: EWSL 1987 (predecessor of EMCL), ICML 1999, ECML/PKDD 2009 (organized in Croatia), 2009 (in Bled, Slovenia), and 2017 (in Macedonia).
Double milestone for AI
The year 2022 was a very significant double milestone for artificial intelligence research in Slovenia. It marked half a century since 1972, when AI research in Slovenia started, and was the 30th anniversary of SLAIS. The Slovenian AI community is immensely honoured to welcome the European and global AI community at ESSAI & ACAI 2023 in Ljubljana!
