ELISE emerged from the urge to organize the world-wide revolution of machine learning in Europe. This network of excellence is motivated by the need to build, inspire and disseminate knowledge of data-driven learning in Europe. Where other continents have woken up earlier, the ELISE members are motivated by a shared concern that any participation in the world-wide competition starts from mastering the fundamentals and the time it takes to get to applications.

ELISE builds on top of and works in cooperation with the fast-expanding ELLIS Society (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems). ELISE is designed to be compatible with ELLIS.

The ELISE activities are organized by a small set of organizing nodes, who manage the programs and serve the whole network of Fellows and their groups.