# Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology

The Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology (INSAIT) is a research institute in Sofia, Bulgaria, that conducts research in computer science and artificial intelligence, operating as a special unit within Sofia University. Founded in 2021, it ranks 14th in Europe in CSRankings as of March 2026.

The Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology (INSAIT) is a research institute located in Sofia, Bulgaria, that conducts research in key areas spanning computer science and artificial intelligence. The institute operates as a special unit within Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", with its own regulations approved by the Sofia University academic council. As of March 2026, INSAIT ranks 14th in Europe in CSRankings and 1st in Eastern Europe. The ranking covers the period from the first INSAIT accepted publications in 2023 to present day, and includes research areas that INSAIT focuses on, such as computer vision (where INSAIT is ranked 6th in Europe), robotics, [machine learning](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/machine-learning), [natural language processing](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/natural-language-processing), and algorithms.

INSAIT was founded by Prof. Martin Vechev, who also serves as its scientific director and chair of its supervisory board. The idea for the institute was presented in April 2019 at an event organized by the Bulgarian Minister of Education and Science. Formally, INSAIT was created by decree No. 56 of the Bulgarian Council of Ministers on 18 February 2021, with an international agreement ratified by the 46th Bulgarian Parliament on 8 September 2021 and published in the State Gazette (issue 77, 16 September 2021). The institute began operations on 11 April 2022.

## Governance

INSAIT is governed by a Supervisory Board composed of internationally recognized scientists and technology leaders, chaired by Prof. Martin Vechev. Board members include Prof. Srdjan Capkun (ETH Zurich), Prof. Eran Yahav (Technion), and Prof. James Larus (formerly EPFL). The institute is managed by an Executive Director, currently Eng. Borislav Petrov.

An Advisory Board includes Prof. Andreas Krause (ETH Zurich), Dr. Slav Petrov (Google DeepMind), Prof. Thomas Henzinger (IST Austria), Prof. Virginia Vassilevska Williams (MIT), and Prof. Greg Morrisett (Cornell Tech). The institute also receives international guidance through partnerships.

## International partnerships and funding

The Government of Bulgaria provided BGN 166 million (approximately EUR 85 million) in funding over a ten-year period. Additional support comes from tech companies, including Google, Amazon Web Services, DeepMind, SiteGround, and VMware, as well as through the INSAIT Research and Education Foundation, founded in 2023. The foundation supporting INSAIT's mission of advancing research and education.

INSAIT is part of the ELLIS program, hosting the first ELLIS unit in Eastern Europe. In June 2025, INSAIT launched a joint research exchange program with the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), leveraging a USD 1 million budget. The institute is also a founding member of the AI Alliance, a global initiative for open and responsible AI.

## Research and mission

INSAIT's mission is to conduct world-class scientific research, attract top international researchers, and educate a new generation of experts. The institute focuses on areas such as [Computer Vision](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/computer-vision) and robotics, information security and cryptography, quantum computing, algorithms and theory, [machine learning](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/machine-learning), secure and trustworthy AI, and regulatory AI compliance.

Work from INSAIT is regularly published at leading venues, such as ICML, NeurIPS, ICLR, IROS, ICRA, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, and algorithms conferences like FOCS, SODA, and STOC.

## Notable releases

### BgGPT

In 2024, INSAIT released BgGPT, the first Bulgarian generative AI large-language model (LLM) based on [Google](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/google)'s Gemma-2 2B architecture and trained on Bulgarian and English tokens. The model was developed using the Branch-and-Merge strategy, presented at EMNLP 2024, which improves cultural and linguistic understanding in Bulgarian while maintaining abilities. INSAIT announced BgGPT 3.0 in March 2026, with supports for text, images, and voice, improving model performance and suitability for advanced generation.

### MamayLM

In collaboration with ETH Zurich, INSAIT developed MamayLM, a high-efficiency Ukrainian LLM built on Google's Gemma-2 9B architecture. The model was pre-trained on over 75 billion tokens of Ukrainian and English text, using data mixing and model merging to enhance Ukrainian capabilities while preserving performance in English.

### COMPL-AI

On 16 October 2024, INSAIT released COMPL-AI, the first open-source compliance-centered AI benchmark, developed with ETH Zurich and LatticeFlow AI. The methodology assesses AI systems for compliance with EU AI regulations into a practical tool.

## External recognition

INSAIT has attracted visits from notable figures, including Guy Parmelin, António Costa, and Yasutoshi Nishimura, reflecting its growing status and broad international outreach.

## External links

- [Wikipedia: Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_for_Computer_Science,_Artificial_Intelligence_and_Technology)

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Source: https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/institute-for-computer-science-artificial-intelligence-and-technology
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
Last updated: 2026-09-14T06:31:19.055832+00:00