Sectoral Hub Romania

ICI Bucharest

Connecting Romanian startups, companies, researchers and public institutions with advanced AI and European innovation support.

Purpose of the Romanian activities Identify concrete sectoral challenges, facilitate access to BSC AI Factory services, and support the experimentation, validation and deployment of trustworthy, scalable AI solutions.

 

1. Romania in the BSC AI Factory

ICI Bucharest coordinates the Romanian sectoral innovation activities within the BSC AI Factory. The programme supports startups, SMEs, research organisations, public institutions and innovation actors in accessing advanced Artificial Intelligence and High-Performance Computing resources.

Through sectoral events, workshops, technical meetings and partnerships with national innovation organisations, ICI Bucharest is building a bridge between the Romanian AI ecosystem and the wider European AI Factories network.

2. Priority Sectors

Romania’s initial activities focus on strategic areas selected for their alignment with national and European digital priorities and their potential to generate high-impact AI applications.

Health, Biotech & Pharma AI for healthcare, wellbeing, biomedical research, disease prevention, personalised services and health-data analysis.

Energy Energy efficiency, renewable integration, forecasting, infrastructure monitoring, climate modelling and sustainable optimisation.

 

3. Past Activities

Tech Sparks: AI Innovation & Investment

9 July 2026 • Event page

ICI Bucharest and the BSC AI Factory, in partnership with NeoMixers, organised an event connecting founders, investors, researchers, AI specialists and innovation stakeholders. The programme explored how AI solutions can progress from research and experimentation to deployment, business growth and investment readiness.

• The panel “From AI Research to Market: Building, Scaling and Investing in AI Startups” connected research, entrepreneurship and investment perspectives.

• Topics included market-ready AI products, sustainable use cases, technical infrastructure, investment preparation and the role of AI Factories.

• A networking session strengthened connections across the Romanian startup, research and investment communities.

Tech Sparks: Business Meets AI

22 May 2026 • Event page

ICI Bucharest organised Tech Sparks: Business Meets AI in collaboration with the BSC AI Factory innovation team. The event brought together Romanian startups, companies, researchers and innovation stakeholders interested in developing and adopting AI solutions.

• Romanian startups presented their technologies, practical applications and development needs.

• Discussions addressed barriers to scaling AI solutions, including computing resources, technical expertise, data, partnerships and funding.

• The event promoted BSC AI Factory services and helped identify potential use cases and future collaborations.

Regional Health Conference: Transylvania

22 April 2026 • Event page

ICI Bucharest was present at the Regional Health Conference in Cluj-Napoca, Romania where good practices, initiatives, projects and investments in health were presented. ICI strengthened the collaborations with the health community on the west part of Romania.

4. Planned Activities

Collaboration with BioMentorHub and 1Health Innovation Bootcamp 2026

ICI Bucharest plans to support and participate in activities associated with the 1Health Innovation Bootcamp 2026, developed through the BioMentorHub and One Health innovation ecosystem. Programme website

The programme supports researchers and early-stage startups in transforming validated research and intellectual property into sustainable companies, products and services, with a focus on agriculture, food, environmental biotechnology and related One Health areas.

Priority areas • Climate resilience and adaptation • Precision agriculture and food safety • Agricultural biotechnology • Sustainable packaging and food-waste reduction • Microbiome and precision nutrition

Potential ICI Bucharest contribution • Promote the programme across research and innovation communities • Identify projects that could benefit from AI and HPC • Present BSC AI Factory services • Support AI use-case definition and mentoring • Explore future experimentation and pilot projects

 

The involvement is described as planned support and participation, without implying that ICI Bucharest is an official programme organiser unless this role is formally confirmed.

Sectoral Workshops and Co-Creation Sessions

Dedicated workshops will initially focus on Health and Life Sciences, Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure, and Energy and Climate.

• Presentation of BSC AI Factory services and available resources

• Discussion of Romanian AI and HPC needs

• Real-life sectoral AI use cases

• Brainstorming and co-creation

• Identification of technological gaps, partnerships and potential pilots

Mapping Romanian AI Use Cases

ICI Bucharest will collect and analyse use cases that may benefit from advanced computing and innovation support.

• AI model training and optimisation

• Large-scale data processing

• Technical and scientific support

• Experimentation and validation

• Trustworthy and secure AI evaluation

• Regulatory and ethical compliance support

Startup and SME Support

Romanian startups and SMEs will be supported through awareness, mentoring, technical consultation and collaboration with incubators and accelerators.

• Technology-needs assessment and experimentation planning

• Guidance on model architecture and data preparation

• Responsible AI, cybersecurity, data governance and EU AI Act training

• Demo days and pitching sessions

• Development of early adopters and demonstrators

Collaboration with Romanian Innovation Networks

The sectoral programme will be developed with research centres, EDIHs, clusters, incubators, accelerators, universities, public institutions and industry associations.

• Joint workshops, webinars and knowledge exchange

• Referral and onboarding of potential users

• One-to-one meetings with sectoral organisations

• Pilot identification and implementation support

• Participation in national and European innovation events

5. What to expect?

• Increased awareness and uptake of BSC AI Factory services in Romania.

• Identification of technological gaps and sector-specific AI opportunities.

• Onboarding of Romanian projects into the BSC AI Factory ecosystem.

• A preliminary map of Romanian AI startups, capabilities and sectoral needs.

• At least three potential collaborative pilots involving companies, researchers and public institutions.

• Improved access to AI and HPC resources for Romanian organisations.

• Stronger collaboration among startups, industry, academia and the public sector.

• Enhanced literacy in trustworthy AI, cybersecurity, data governance and European regulation.

• Greater Romanian participation in European AI and HPC initiatives.

6. Join the Romanian BSC AI Factory Ecosystem

ICI Bucharest invites Romanian startups, companies, researchers, public institutions and innovation organisations to engage with the national sectoral activities. Organisations may propose an AI use case, participate in a sectoral workshop, present an innovative solution, contribute expertise, collaborate on a pilot or request support in accessing the BSC AI Factory ecosystem.