Session

From Lighthouse to Continent: ENFIELD and the Future of European AI Leadership

Wednesday July 8, 2026  | 16:30-17:30 CEST

Albert II Auditorium

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Description

Debate on the future of AI given what ENFIELD has produced, the new challenges of AI, the directions of the AI Continent as proposed by EU.

Speakers

Habtamu Abie

Chief Research Scientist, NR
Dr. Habtamu Abie is currently chief research scientist at the Norwegian Computing Centre. Previously senior engineer and research scientist at Telenor Research and Development (1997-1999), scientific associate and fellow at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), Geneva, Switzerland (1989-1993). Researcher at ABB Corporate Research, software development engineer at Nera-AS, Billingstad, Norway, and Alcatel Telecom Norway AS, Oslo, Norway (1994-1997). Received Engineering Diploma in Electrical Data Processing from Gjøvik Engineering College, and B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Oslo. Member of EURASC (European Academy of Sciences). IEEE Senior Member. Fellow of AAIA.

Prof. Dr. Adina Magda Florea

Director of AI Center, National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest
Adina Magda Florea is Professor at the Department of Computer Science of the National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest and Director of the Center of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence of the university. She coordinates the national strategic project “Romanian Hub for Artificial Intelligence” (HRIA) developed under the framework of the Smart Growth, Digitalization and Financial Instruments Programme 2021–2027, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, aiming to develop a national ecosystem of excellence in Artificial Intelligence in Romania in terms of research, development, and innovation activities, as well as its tangible economic impact. Her research interests are in multi-agent systems, machine learning, ambient intelligence, social robots, and human-robot interaction. She was the Director of over 30 national and international research grants and coordinated the project “PRECIS: Research infrastructure for the development of intelligent, innovative products and processes in ICT”, which lead to the development of the PRECIS Research Center in POLITEHNICA Bucharest.
She is Senior Member of IEEE, Senior Member of ACM, founding member and President of Romanian Association for Artificial Intelligence (ARIA), and Chair of IEEE Romanian Section Chapter of Computational Intelligence Society. She is also President of the “Réseau de Recherche Francophone sur l’Intelligence Artificielle” (RéFIA). Professor Florea is Corresponding Member of the Academy of Romanian Scientists and of the Technical Sciences Academy of Romania.

Adam Brandstetter-Kunc

Science Officer, ESF
Dr. Adam Brandstetter-Kunc is a Science Officer in European Science Foundation where he co-leads the Inclusive Science Cluster. Adam has worked in application of Responsible Research and Innovation practices including gender equality, ethics, and open science in a wide range of contexts while working in EU-Funded projects such as TeRRItoria, WBC-RRI.NET, TIME4CS, and PATTERN, among others. Currently he is coordinating newly started S4PXchange (Science for policy exchange) project that aims at strengthening European S4P ecosystem. He also contributes to the ongoing ESF led project SCIANCE (AI in Science) where he supports AI in Science Working Group on Fundamental Physics and Astronomy.

Ricardo Bessa

Coordinator of the Center for Power and Energy Systems and Senior Researcher, INESC TEC
Ricardo Bessa (b. 1983, Viseu), IEEE Fellow, earned his 5-years in Electrical and Computer Engineering (2006), M.Sc. in Data Analysis (2008), and Ph.D. in Sustainable Energy Systems (2013) from the University of Porto. He coordinates the Center for Power and Energy Systems at INESC TEC. His research spans energy forecasting, computational intelligence, and smart grids. He led projects like AI4REALNET and contributed to FP6 ANEMOS.plus, H2020 Smart4RES, H2020 InteGrid, HE ENERSHARE, HE AI-EFFECT. Received the ESIG Excellence Award (2022) and he serves as an Associate Editor of IEEE Data Descriptions, Journal of Modern Power Systems and Clean Energy, and International Journal of Forecasting, and is a former AE of IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy.

Leila Belmerhnia

Project Manager, PREDICT / iQuanto Group
As a Project Manager at iQanto Group, Leïla Belmerhnia leads the development and management of R&D and innovation projects. Her work focuses on data collection and analysis using advanced deep learning and AI methods. She specializes in implementing innovative solutions for the energy transition and decarbonization, particularly within the manufacturing and the maritime sector. Her responsibilities include structuring partnerships, managing scientific and technical coordination, and promoting project outcomes. Leïla holds a PhD in Automation, Signal and Image Processing, and Computer Engineering from the Université de Lorraine (CRAN), with solid expertise in convex optimization and inverse problems. Her research has also driven deep expertise in feature selection, classification, big data, and artificial intelligence.