11 Norwegian organisations join forces to explore responsible AI

Last week, DFØ, through its Marketplace for Cloud Services (MPS) team, together with Telenor AI Factory, hosted the second workshop, out of three planned sessions, as part of the ongoing AI pilot project bringing together 11 public sector organisations from across Norway.

MPS is DFØ’s marketplace initiative for cloud services and digital infrastructure, established to help the public sector explore secure, sustainable and future oriented technology solutions.

Since its launch, the project has focused on exploring how the public sector can safely and responsibly test and adopt AI using national cloud infrastructure and governance mechanisms tailored to Norwegian requirements.

Running until August 2026, the pilot brings together organisations including Datatilsynet, Forsvarsdepartementet, Helsedirektoratet, Norges Bank, and Tolletaten, to explore practical AI use cases, responsible governance frameworks, procurement needs and the value of trusted national AI capabilities.

During the second workshop, each organisation shared updates on the progress made so far, while also raising questions and challenges in open discussions with the other participating organisations, MPS and Telenor. The sessions continue to provide a valuable arena for knowledge sharing, collaboration and experience exchange across the public sector.

Looking ahead, the pilot period will conclude on 31 June 2026, after which the project will move into a new phase focused on evaluation and the development of a final report. The final report is scheduled to be delivered by 31 August 2026.

“What makes this pilot particularly valuable is the collaboration across organisations. Each workshop brings together different perspectives, from policy and regulation to operations and data, and that exchange is essential. It allows us to test assumptions, identify challenges early, and build a stronger foundation for how artificial intelligence can be used safely and effectively in the public sector,” says Sverre Stoltz, Programme Director at DFØ.

For Telenor AI Factory, it is exciting to contribute to an initiative focused on enabling secure, sovereign and sustainable AI adoption in Norway, while helping public sector organisations navigate both the opportunities and challenges that come with emerging AI technologies.

Full list of participating organisations:

• Datatilsynet
• Digitaliseringsdirektoratet
• Direktoratet for forvaltning og økonomistyring
• Forsvarsdepartementet
• Helsedirektoratet
• Norges Bank
• Oslo Met
• Riksadvokaten
• Statistisk Sentralbyrå
• Tolletaten
• Universitetet i Oslo

Telenor advances its Sovereign AI Infrastructure with expanded capacity and new AI use cases

Telenor is entering the next phase of its AI journey with a significant expansion of its Sovereign AI Factory – Norway’s first of its kind. The facility is now scaling to meet increasing demand from both internal and external users, enabling new opportunities for secure, sovereign, and sustainable AI development.

Since its launch, the AI Factory has supported a growing number of real-world applications – from voice-to-voice translation and public sector digitalisation to hosting Norway’s own language models and accelerating industrial automation.

Capgemini has been a key partner to build Norway’s first sovereign AI infrastructure in collaboration with NVIDIA, including developing BabelSpeak – a new AI service for multilingual translation in more than 100 languages – hosted on Telenor’s AI infrastructure, supporting enterprises and government applications. As interest grows across industries, Telenor is enhancing its infrastructure to deliver scalable, enterprise-ready services.

To support this growth, Telenor is integrating NVIDIA AI Enterprise into its platform, enabling faster and more efficient deployment of generative and agentic AI applications. These capabilities also support Telenor’s own innovation efforts, including private network automation and AI-driven optimisation in maritime use cases.

One such use case is being developed in collaboration with Telenor Maritime, where agentic AI is being applied to optimise private 5G networks at sea. In a pioneering field trial, the company is implementing the NVIDIA AI Blueprint for telco network configuration, built with BubbleRAN – enabling natural language-based controls for improved network installation and configuration.

“The blueprint is helping us address configuration challenges and enhance quality of service during network installation” said Knut Fjellheim, CTIO at Telenor Maritime. “Implementing it is part of our push toward network automation and follows the successful deployment of agentic AI for real-time network slicing in a private 5G maritime use case.”

Together, these initiatives represent a transformative leap for Telenor and for Norway’s AI landscape. By localising AI capabilities, embedding strong security, and focusing on sustainable operations, Telenor is helping set a new benchmark for sovereign digital infrastructure in Europe.

“With the expansion of the AI Factory, the successful launch of regulated use cases, and the integration of AI into our private networks, Telenor is setting a new standard for secure, sustainable, and intelligent networks in Norway and beyond” said Cathal Kennedy, Acting GCTO, Telenor.

This next step reinforces Telenor’s role as a forward-leaning technology leader in Europe. By expanding the AI Factory’s capacity and accelerating the development of impactful use cases, Telenor is not only enabling innovation across industries but also ensuring that the benefits of AI are developed responsibly, within national borders, and in line with Norwegian values. With a growing ecosystem of partners, customers, and applied research, the company is paving the way for a future where AI serves as a trusted driver of societal progress and digital resilience – whether on land or at sea.

Telenor AI Factory welcomes new customer

Telenor AI Factory is excited to announce Sikri, one of Norway’s leading providers of digital governance systems to the public sector in Norway and the Nordic region, as a new customer.

Since its launch in November 2024, Telenor AI Factory has already welcomed three customers – Hive Autonomy, Capgemini, and Telenor Norway. Building on this momentum, the AI Factory is now taking the next step in offering cutting-edge AI computing capabilities to businesses looking for secure and sovereign AI solutions.

“It’s hard to believe that less than a year has passed since we started this journey and three months since we launched Telenor AI Factory,” said Kaaren Hilsen, Head of AI Factory, Telenor. “We’ve learned so much as we’ve built Norway’s first sovereign, secure, and sustainable AI platform. Our mission is to accelerate our customers’ AI ambitions, and every new partnership, like Sikri, brings us one step closer to that goal. It’s an exciting milestone having Sikri join us as our fourth customer. We’re proud to be enabling businesses across the Nordics to harness the full potential of AI with the trust and security they need to succeed.”

The signing of Sikri as the fourth customer underscores Telenor’s ambitions to create new opportunities and provide customer solutions across industries. The AI Factory enables businesses to harness Telenor’s robust infrastructure alongside NVIDIA’s AI software and support to create and integrate their own AI. With the AI Factory’s resources, companies like Sikri can train AI models on real-world data including sensitive information, while maintaining full security and control over their data. This allows businesses to develop solutions that optimise operations, reduce costs, and enhance safety through data-driven, AI-powered innovations.

“We are excited to start using Telenor’s AI Factory,” said Fredrik Buchardt Werpen, Business Developer AI, Sikri. “This opens up greater opportunities to train our AI models on real-world data, including sensitive information. With Norwegian ownership and full control within Norway, this provides our customers and us with the necessary security.”

The AI Factory is a collaborative platform, combining Telenor’s infrastructure and expertise with partner companies to accelerate the adoption of AI across industries. As Telenor expands this initiative, the AI Factory will continue to onboard customers seeking to harness the transformative power of artificial intelligence.