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The CEO Leadership Alliance Orange County (CLAOC) announced a collaboration with NVIDIA, Chapman University, Trace3 and Run:ai to establish a framework for the contribution, installation and use of the nations first community-focused AI supercomputer.
The system will be installed later this year at Chapman University and feature a unique governance model intended to support a mission of local AI talent development. As part of the agreement, NVIDIA has pledged a DGX system, a world-leading AI computing platform, which will be the first of its capability governed by local community stakeholders with priority access granted to local AI upskilling and education efforts.
“Orange County is at the center of the largest concentration of S.T.E.M. graduates in the country and many of the worlds top innovation companies,” said Jasmine Pachnanda, CLAOC Senior Vice President. “This new system will be part of a world-class infrastructure that will support our AI initiative, a business-led effort to enhance the innovation talent pipeline at the high school and community college levels. The collaboration aims to assist in professional development, while introducing increased equity in access to training and exposure to potential innovation career paths for more children, teens and young adults.”
With the execution of its framework agreement, CLAOC, NVIDIA and Chapman plan to develop a model to govern and prioritize access to the system to ensure its capacity is properly allocated to advance its community-based agenda. The team plans to engage select members of the higher educational community, including representatives from the University of California, Irvine and California State University, Fullerton to review and provide input regarding its deployment.
“Hosting this computing power at our university for the benefit of the community allows us a unique way to further our goals in supporting a pipeline of talent that reflects the diversity of Orange County,” said Andrew Lyon, Dean, Chapman University’s Fowler School of Engineering.
Irvine-based Trace3 and Tel Aviv-based Run:ai are also key collaborators in the initiative. Trace3 plans to contribute ongoing high-performance computing (HPC) configuration, system administration, technical and data science support for the system, while Run:ai plans to contribute its leading software platform to automate AI resource management and consumption. Run:ai is a Premier member of NVIDIA Inception, a program designed to nurture cutting-edge startups, as well as a NVIDIA DGX-Ready Software partner.
“NVIDIA builds platforms that democratize the use of AI,” said Keith Strier, Vice President of Worldwide AI Initiatives at NVIDIA. “Supporting this community-focused initiative aligns with our goal to enable people to develop AI tools that help them achieve their lifes work.”
CLAOCs Pachnanda said the collaborations goals stemmed from the talent development mission of CLAOCs future AI Center of Excellence in service to the residents and businesses of Orange County, with a priority focus on youth from historically underrepresented populations. Further, the collaboration aims to promote the development and delivery of AI courses, training programs across a range of educational institutions as well as public sector AI educational programs with documented benefit to Orange County residents and businesses.
“Trace3 leads with innovation and believes the future of Data/AI & ML relies on businesses investing in AI talent development early on, and by aligning with these key partners, we can together move the needle in Orange County,” commented Josh Lindstrom, Managing Director, Data Intelligence at Trace3. “We are eager to engage and innovate with young talent and to help evolve the global workforce to deliver value through data and AI locally, community by community,” added Run:ai CEO and co-founder Omri Geller.
About CLAOC
CLAOC is a not-for-profit membership organization of CEOs from some of the regions most prominent public and private companies who are committed to leading change. CLAOCs mission is to collaborate to cultivate Orange County into a premier, inclusive, innovation talent hub. The groups organizational priorities include creating an AI Talent Development Center of Excellence to bring together civic and business leaders, AI-focused entrepreneurs, and education organizations to cultivate and recruit the diverse talent needed now and in the future to support a robust AI-driven economy in OC. The AI Talent Development Center of Excellence will be the premier source of talent cultivation, providing OC residents the opportunity to build and flourish in AI-infused careers. Through this strategy, the group hopes to create a well-defined talent pipeline and promote a thriving local economy and environment for the region.
CLAOCs members include Edwards Lifesciences, Johnson & Johnson, EY, City of Hope Orange County, Pacific Life, PIMCO, Skyworks, Golden State Foods, Ingram Micro, and a host of others working strategically to help others succeed.
More information about CLAOC is available at www.claoc.org.
