Spinverse recently hosted the Consortium and General Assembly Meeting of European Defence Fund (EDF) project ARCHYTAS in Finland. ARCHYTAS (Architectures based on Unconventional Accelerators for Dependable / Energy-Efficient AI Systems) is a EUR 20 million European Defence Fund (EDF) project led by IVECO Defence Vehicles and consisting of over 20 European partners advancing defence applications to boost more effective defence operations.
On June 17-18, 2025, Spinverse hosted a Consortium and General Assembly meeting with the ARCHYTAS Consortium in Finland. The Consortium comprises of 22 leading technology companies or research organisations from 12 European countries. ARCHYTAS is led by IVECO Defence Vehicles, one of Europe’s leading producers of armoured vehicles.
The project was selected in 2024 as a one of the EDF projects to receive substantial funding on their research initiative on digital transformation in the defence sector.
The aim of the 3-year project is to investigate and study the feasibility of non-conventional Artificial Intelligence (AI) accelerators for defence applications, harnessing novel technologies at the device and package level. The project is set to end in November 2027. The novel technologies harnessed in this project include optoelectronic-based accelerators, volatile and non-volatile processing-in-memory, and neuromorphic devices, among others.
Spinverse experts contributing to the success of the project
Spinverse supported the project from the proposal preparation phase to the grant agreement preparation and is now supporting Coordinator IVECO Defence Vehicles and the ARCHYTAS Consortium in the project’s day-to-day management.
“Spinverse has been valuable from the outset of the project’s initial phases to the project’s day-to-day management now that the project is finally charging ahead. Thanks to them we as Coordinator and the other project partners can fully also focus on delivering the critical technical aspects in service of the novel defence applications that the project aims to advance,” says Alessandro Morando, Coordinator of ARCHYTAS from IVECO Defence Vehicles.
The consortium brings together European expertise from leading large enterprises and mid-caps to SMEs and research organisations in order to explore, for instance, new ways of minimising energy consumption in defence operations while creating the foundation of more agile decision-making when it matters the most. For Spinverse, the project represents yet another step forward to a more integrated European defence and technological industrial base.
“ARCHYTAS is a prime example of how we need large companies such as IVECO Defence Vehicles, as well as smaller businesses and universities, working together to drive the changes needed to strengthen European solutions in critical times. It has been a pleasure to support IDV and the other partners in the ARCHYTAS project so far, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration," says Anu Ilmonen, Director and Team Leader for Spinverse’s Defence and Security team.
During the Consortium meeting in Finland at Spinverse headquarters, partners were able to gather face-to-face for the second time following the initial kick-off earlier in the year in Bolzano, Italy, where IVECO Defence Vehicles is located. Partners also had the chance to visit Suomenlinna, a fortress island ripe with military history during the sunny days in Helsinki.
Revolutionising AI for defence sector
ARCHYTAS project addresses the challenges encountered in the defence use cases by proposing optimised solutions for efficient energy consumption, speed and cost as follows:
- Novel technologies:The project explores cutting-edge device and package-level advancements such as optoelectronic-based accelerators and neuromorphic devices.
- Energy efficiency: The project prioritises solutions to minimise energy consumption, a critical factor in defence operations.
- Speed and performance: The project develops accelerators capable of significantly faster processing for rapid decision-making in critical situations.
- Cost-effectiveness: The project aims to deliver high-performance AI solutions that are affordable and accessible.
Members of the consortium:
Coordinator: IVECO Defence Vehicles SPA (Italy)
Day-to-day management: Spinverse Oy (Finland)
Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spain)
Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna (Italy)
Aristotelio Panepistimio Thessalonikis (Greece)
Brightelligence Sp. z o.o. (Poland)
Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung EV (Germany)
Instrumentation Technologies, elektronska instrumentacija in produkti za procesiranje signalov, doo (Slovenia)
Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (Germany)
Maritime Robotics AS (Norway)
NamLab gGmbH (Germany)
Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet NTNU (Norway)
Nurenda Technologies (Ireland)
Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (Netherlands)
SAS UPMEM (France)
SENER Aeroespacial Sociedad Anónima (Spain)
Sorbonne Université (France)
STMicroelectronics SRL (Italy)
Ubotica Technologies Limited (Ireland)
Università degli Studi di Trento (Italy)
Université de Rennes (France)
More information:
European Commission
ARCHYTAS LinkedIn page
| EU Funding Statement: This work has been funded by the European Union via the European Defence Fund project ARCHYTAS under grant number 101167870. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. |
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