ELLIS Society

ELLIS (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems) is a pan-European machine-learning research network founded in 2018 by senior European AI researchers including Bernhard Schölkopf (Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems), Nuria Oliver (DataPop Alliance), Sepp Hochreiter (Johannes Kepler University Linz), and Nicolò Cesa-Bianchi (University of Milan). ELLIS operates as a coordinating-network organization across approximately 40 European ELLIS Units (research centers at major European universities and research institutions) and adjacent research-program structures including the ELLIS PhD Program, the ELLIS Postdoctoral Program, and the substantive academic-research-cooperation engagement across the network. The network's stated mission is to keep European AI research at the frontier of global AI research and to build a European AI research-talent pipeline that competes structurally with US and Chinese AI research talent retention. As of April 2026, ELLIS is one of the principal coordinating-network AI research organizations in Europe, with multi-institution research-program coordination across the broader European academic AI research community.

At a glance

• Founded: December 2018 by senior European AI researchers including Bernhard Schölkopf, Nuria Oliver, Sepp Hochreiter, and Nicolò Cesa-Bianchi.
• Status: Non-profit pan-European research-network society. Coordinates approximately 40 ELLIS Units at European universities and research institutions.
• Funding: Member-institution contributions, European research-grant programs, individual donations, and adjacent academic-research funding.
• CEO / Lead: Bernhard Schölkopf, ELLIS President. Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems Director.
• Other notable leadership: Nuria Oliver, ELLIS Vice President. Sepp Hochreiter, founding-team member. Nicolò Cesa-Bianchi, founding-team member. Senior research-leadership across the ELLIS Units and research-program areas.
• Open weights: N/A. ELLIS is a coordinating-network organization rather than a model producer.
• Flagship outputs: Approximately 40 ELLIS Units across European universities and research institutions; the ELLIS PhD Program (multi-institution research-residency program); the ELLIS Postdoctoral Program; substantive academic-research-cooperation engagement across the European AI research community.

Origins

ELLIS was founded in December 2018 by senior European AI researchers with the founding research thesis that European AI research required coordinated multi-institution engagement to compete structurally with US and Chinese AI research-talent retention. The founding-team cohort included Bernhard Schölkopf (Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems Director and one of the principal European AI researchers), Nuria Oliver (DataPop Alliance and previously Telefonica Research), Sepp Hochreiter (Johannes Kepler University Linz computer-science professor and a co-author of the original LSTM paper), and Nicolò Cesa-Bianchi (University of Milan computer-science professor with substantive ML-theory research output).

The 2019 to 2024 founding period built the ELLIS Units network to approximately 40 research centers at major European universities and research institutions. The ELLIS PhD Program (multi-institution research-residency program) and the ELLIS Postdoctoral Program were established as the principal research-talent pipeline mechanisms. The network's substantive academic-research-cooperation engagement across the broader European AI research community has been characterized in industry coverage as one of the principal European AI research-coordination programs.

The 2024 to 2026 period has continued the multi-institution research-program coordination, the ELLIS PhD Program cadence, and the broader European AI research-talent pipeline cultivation.

Mission and strategy

ELLIS's stated mission is to keep European AI research at the frontier of global AI research and to build a European AI research-talent pipeline that competes structurally with US and Chinese AI research-talent retention. The strategy combines three threads. First, the ELLIS Units network providing coordinated multi-institution research-program engagement across European universities and research institutions. Second, the ELLIS PhD Program and ELLIS Postdoctoral Program providing structured research-talent pipeline mechanisms. Third, the broader European AI research-coordination engagement that anchors ELLIS's positioning as the principal European AI research-network organization.

The competitive premise is that European AI research-talent retention requires structural multi-institution coordination that single-institution structures cannot match, and that the ELLIS Units network and PhD Program provide the coordination structure that European AI research requires.

Models and products

• Approximately 40 ELLIS Units. Research centers at major European universities and research institutions across Germany, France, the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and other European countries.
• ELLIS PhD Program. Multi-institution research-residency program for PhD students with research advisors across two ELLIS Units.
• ELLIS Postdoctoral Program. Structured postdoctoral research opportunities across the ELLIS Units network.
• Substantive academic-research-cooperation engagement. With European research-grant programs (including the European Research Council ERC and Horizon Europe), national research-grant programs, and adjacent European academic-AI research-coordination organizations.

Distribution channels are predominantly through the ELLIS Units network and the research-talent pipeline programs.

Benchmarks and standing

ELLIS's evaluation framework focuses on the multi-institution research-program coordination scale (number of ELLIS Units), the research-talent pipeline output (ELLIS PhD Program and Postdoctoral Program participant counts and academic-or-industry placement rates), and the substantive impact on European AI research-talent retention.

Industry coverage has consistently characterized ELLIS as one of the principal European AI research-network organizations, with the multi-institution coordination scale and the substantive Schölkopf-anchored research-leadership credibility as principal validating data points.

Leadership

As of April 2026, ELLIS's senior leadership includes:

• Bernhard Schölkopf, ELLIS President. Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems Director.
• Nuria Oliver, ELLIS Vice President.
• Sepp Hochreiter, founding-team member.
• Nicolò Cesa-Bianchi, founding-team member.
• Senior research-leadership across the ELLIS Units network and research-program areas.

Funding and backers

Member-institution contributions, European research-grant programs (including the European Research Council ERC and Horizon Europe), individual donations, and adjacent academic-research funding.

Industry position

ELLIS occupies a distinctive position as one of the principal European AI research-network organizations, with the multi-institution ELLIS Units coordination, the ELLIS PhD Program research-talent pipeline, and the substantive Schölkopf-anchored research-leadership credibility. Industry coverage has consistently characterized ELLIS as one of the structurally consequential European AI research-coordination organizations.

Competitive landscape

• Alan Turing Institute, DFKI, INRIA, Tübingen AI Center, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, ETH AI Center, EPFL AI Center. European academic AI research peer organizations and ELLIS Units members.
• Mila, Vector Institute, Stanford AI Lab, MIT CSAIL, Berkeley BAIR, CMU SCS. International academic AI research peer organizations.
• BAAI, Shanghai AI Laboratory, Tsinghua KEG. International academic AI research peer organizations.
• Hugging Face, LAION, EleutherAI, BigScience. European-affiliated open-research peer organizations.

Outlook

• The continued ELLIS Units network expansion and multi-institution research-program coordination through 2026 to 2027.
• The continued ELLIS PhD Program and Postdoctoral Program cadence.
• The continued European AI research-talent pipeline engagement.
• The continued substantive academic-research-cooperation engagement across European research-grant programs.

Sources

• ELLIS Society. Network reference.
• Bernhard Schölkopf Wikipedia. President reference.
• ELLIS PhD Program. Research-talent pipeline reference.
• European Research Council (ERC). Principal European research-grant program.