At the beginning of November, the first AIRE club took place, the purpose of which is to bring together AIRE customers – industrial companies and support service providers: researchers, engineers, experts, IT developers, robot importers, banks, telecommunication companies and financiers from both the public and private sectors. The idea of ​​the monthly AIRE club is to support collaboration in a free format through discussion and dialogue and to reach the realization of artificial intelligence and robotics projects together. At a time when businesses have moved a large part of their communication to digital channels, the real need for face-to-face communication is even greater. This was also proven by the active participation of industrial entrepreneurs in the first event at the University of Tartu. Artificial intelligence and robotics center AIRE is an Estonian candidate under the leadership of TalTech to join the pan-European network in the future, which will include 200+ digital innovation centers of the European Union next year. Thus, the AIRE club will also be a physical meeting place where, in addition to local services and success stories, the activities of other European centers that could benefit Estonian industrial companies will be introduced. We can also take common success stories from Estonia to Europe. In his speech, TalTech vice-rector Sven Illing pointed out that success stories in the example of Silicon Valley are born thanks to contacts, conversations and networks. One of AIRE’s important ambitions is to help industrial companies and their supporters (universities, IT companies, etc.) to open the right doors in finding additional sources of funding, because good ideas are not really behind money, but it is not always easy to bring the parties together. At the first meeting, the students of the Institute of Technology of the University of Tartu introduced the robots that will serve the guests of both medical and entertainment institutions in the future. At the very next event, we will meet a company that has also changed our consumption habits with the help of robotics. Kirke Maar, the head of the artificial intelligence and robotics center, summed up the goal of the AIRE club: “A prerequisite for serious undertakings is cooperation, and for cooperation it is necessary to get the parties to know each other”. The next meeting is already on December 10 in Tallinn. More information coming soon!