BOSTON (MAY 19, 2022) – InstaDeep, a leader in advanced AI decision-making systems for solving real-world problems, announced Thursday it has opened its first US office in the heart of the dynamic Cambridge, MA, life sciences, university research and innovation hub.
The new R&D base for InstaDeep will allow the AI company to work with the surrounding university community as well as with some of the most innovative and impactful companies and organizations in the world.
InstaDeep chose the Kendall Square innovation district in the Boston area, which has been described as “the most innovative square mile on the planet,” for its high concentration of start-ups and quality of innovation which have emerged in the vicinity of the square. It is the latest addition to the AI company’s network of international offices spanning London, Paris, Tunis, Lagos, Dubai and Cape Town.
InstaDeep Co-Founder and CEO Karim Beguir said: “Opening our first-ever US office is a key milestone for InstaDeep’s global growth. The flurry of AI and biotech innovation – and innovative companies – coming out of Kendall Square is truly inspiring and InstaDeep is looking forward to collaborating with the community in Cambridge, MA.”
The office will be headed by US Research Lead Thomas Pierrot, who previously led the company’s Paris research team. His research lies at the intersection of bioinformatics, evolutionary methods and deep reinforcement learning. In addition to publishing research at leading AI conferences, Pierrot helped develop InstaDeep’s protein design platform DeepChain™ and the Early Warning System to Detect Potential High-Risk SARS-CoV-2 Variants, which InstaDeep co-developed with BioNTech.
While opening the new office, Beguir sat down for a fireside chat event with Wade Roush, host of the Soonish and MIT Technology Review’s Deep Tech podcasts, to talk about the InstaDeep story and answer questions from students, researchers and executives in Kendall Square’s community.
InstaDeep helps companies accelerate their operations by harnessing AI technologies such as Reinforcement Learning, a type of machine learning that enables neural networks to learn quickly from simulation and home in on the most effective optimisation strategies for a wide array of problems, from therapeutics development to railway operations and more. InstaDeep and BioNTech operate a joint AI innovation lab that applies machine learning to developing new immunotherapies for a range of cancers and infectious diseases. InstaDeep also collaborates with Google on AI initiatives and has published joint research with DeepMind and Google Research. InstaDeep is also working on a moonshot project to automate railway routing with Deutsche Bahn in Germany, the largest rail operator and infrastructure owner in Europe.
The African-founded company, which has been ranked one of the 100 most innovative start-ups globally for three consecutive years by CB Insights, will also use its new US base to mentor and train students, providing internships and fulltime job opportunities while also promoting diversity and inclusion in the world of AI.
