Bocconi is Shaping Future Innovators of Artificial Intelligence

The objective of Bocconi's new Master of Science program in Artificial Intelligence is to train students to develop systems and software with AI capabilities, in addition to mastering the most advanced machine learning applications. The degree program (Master of Science or MSc) for the 2023-24 academic year has 50 available spots for young people who want to become true innovators in the world of artificial intelligence. Applications will be accepted from 27 March 2023 until 25 May.

"The new degree program's curriculum is based on teaching all the new technologies related to artificial intelligence and machine learning, such as Natural Language Processing (NLP)," explains Luca Trevisan, Fondazione Romeo and Enrica Invernizzi Chair in Computer Science and Director of the new Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence. "Since these technologies evolve very quickly, the program also includes strong quantitative foundations in mathematics and computer science to prepare students to tackle new aspects of the industry – understanding and driving its change. We want to shape AI innovators, instead of users." For this reason, "the program's faculty is made up of professors with extensive international experience both in teaching and research," concludes Trevisan.

With the launch of the new Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence, Bocconi completes its educational offer on these subjects given that the Bachelor of Science Program in Mathematical and Computing Sciences for Artificial Intelligence – which in July 2023 will celebrate its first graduates – has been active since the 2020-21 academic year, along with the PhD in Statistics and Computer Science.

Refinement of programs is followed by continuous recruitment of faculty active in research on these subject matters. For example, as of today the Department of Computing Sciences – launched by the University in the spring of 2022 – boasts about 20 professors and researchers. AI and machine learning are also the focus of the Artificial Intelligence Lab, one of the research units of the Bocconi Institute for Data Science and Analytics (BIDSA), headed by Igor Pruenster. This research unit brings together the skills of 26 professors and post-doctorates.

"Both the labor market and progress in science (including its impact on society) call for the University to progressively embrace computational sciences, which today are across the board in all social sciences," explains Riccardo Zecchina, Head of the Department of Computing Sciences and Director of the Bachelor in Mathematical and Computing Sciences for Artificial Intelligence. "The new department hosts highly competent scientists and the Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence represents the natural and necessary continuation of the Bachelor, promising to provide young people with a very advanced methodological preparation. They will be protagonists of their own future, be it in the professional world or in research."

In addition to teaching and research, Bocconi University's commitment to artificial intelligence continues through a strong collaboration with other universities in the area. In 2021 it joined forces with the University of Milano-Bicocca, Politecnico di Milano and the University of Milan, making the city one of the leading AI and machine learning hubs. This is also thanks to the establishment of the Milan Unit of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS), which brings together the finest European academics on these topics. More than 40 scientists belonging to the four universities are working together on four research areas: interactive machine learning, which studies the interaction of an algorithm with the environment; neural networks and deep learning; health and computational biology, which applies AI to medicine; and the use of AI for natural language processing and analysis to promote the development of AI and machine learning in Europe.

Moreover, after ELLIS, in 2022 Bocconi University became affiliated with SPOKE 4 of the FAIR-Future Artificial Intelligence Research Partnership, one of the partnerships carried out under the PNRR. The SPOKE in which Bocconi participates together with PoliMi is dedicated to Adaptive AI, or how to perceive, learn and act in dynamically changing environments.