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December 10, 2018

Cornell University and r4 Technologies Announce Partnership for Applied AI

ITHACA, N.Y., Dec. 10, 2018 —  Cornell University and Ridgefield, CT-based r4 Technologies, Inc. (r4) have announced a wide-ranging collaboration focused on applying artificial intelligence (AI) to new domains. The partnership will develop and apply AI solutions to structural challenges that have traditionally hindered growth and modernization in both the private and public sectors, and will train a new generation of students to thrive in a data-driven world.

The newly formed Cornell-r4 Applied AI Initiative will bring together cross-disciplinary scholars and industry experts to apply AI, data science, advanced mathematics, and leading-edge technology to help solve business and societal problems holistically. The Initiative will focus on developing AI solutions to large scale industrial and societal challenges, and developing new courses that bring AI and data science to a much broader range of students across the university. The partnership’s core goals are:

  • Delivering better economic outcomes for large organizations and businesses;
  • Identifying new models of working that advance human potential; and
  • Driving positive impact on societal and environmental challenges facing the world.

As part of the collaboration, selected research areas will be led by Cornell faculty and graduate student teams, who will work closely with r4 and industry partners. In keeping with Cornell’s legacy of leadership in agricultural sciences, the initial research area will focus on “farm to table” challenges in the food industry. The Initiative plans to address problems in consumer retail, supply chain management, and forecasting while looking at broad societal challenges in optimizing the food chain to better align with predicted local demand patterns – thereby improving profitability for producers and retailers while also reducing food waste.

The Cornell-r4 Applied AI Initiative will be co-chaired by Greg Morrisett, Dean of Computing and Information Science at Cornell, and Paul Breitenbach, founder and CEO of r4 Technologies (Cornell BA, Sociology, 1992 and MBA, 1995). An advisory board drawn from Cornell’s cross-departmental leadership, the r4 Leadership Council and industry sponsors will govern the Initiative and select individual research focus areas.

“Cornell University believes in the vast potential of applied AI to achieve breakthrough solutions in business and society,” said Morrisett. “Our partnership with r4 Technologies puts us at the leading edge of academic discovery across crucial disciplines such as statistics, machine learning and optimization.”

“What makes this partnership unique is that it’s not just theoretical,” added Breitenbach. “It’s about the actual application of AI at scale – for business, for education and for social good. Together, we will deliver real-world results for business. And all future Cornellians will lead the new world they enter as AI natives, which will make them unique. This is Cornell University embracing its mission of ‘any student, any study’ for the next 100 years.”

About Cornell University

Cornell is a privately endowed research university and a partner of the State University of New York. As the federal land-grant institution in New York State, the University has a responsibility—unique within the Ivy League—to make contributions in all fields of knowledge in a manner that prioritizes public engagement to help improve the quality of life in our state, the nation, the world.

About r4 Technologies, Inc.

r4 Technologies Inc. is the pioneer of cross-enterprise management (XEM). By identifying relationships across people, places, products and prices, the r4 XEM Engine reveals previously unseen market, revenue and profit opportunities – enabling business leaders to achieve better decisions and faster actions. r4 was created by the founders of priceline.com, and leverages their deep expertise in applying AI to extract business value from data. The company is based in Ridgefield, CT with operations in New York, San Francisco, Austin, Washington D.C., Dublin, Munich and London. For more information please visit www.r4.ai.


Source: Cornell University

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