The Digital Day event closed on Tuesday 10 April with the launch of the online version of the innovation radar tool. This tool was developed by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and aims to identify areas of high potential innovation and provide an exchange platform.
During this event, 16 member states and Norway co-signed the declaration on the promotion of a dynamic ecosystem based on the funding of EU research and innovation by drawing on innovations such as the radar innovation tool. These countries involve Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia.
The Digital Day event produced declarations of commitment on artificial intelligence, the blockchain, genomic databases and innovation (see EUROPE 11998 and another article). It should also be pointed out that the Visegrad countries - Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia - also published a joint non-paper on artificial intelligence in which they highlight the creation of a standard European level work environment (regulatory sandboxes). The four countries point out that, “This test environment appears beneficial, insofar as the tests and experiments should always take place before the introduction of any specific action, irrespective of whether this is legislative or non-legislative”.
It should also be pointed out that the joint declaration by Commission Vice Presidents Ansip and Dombrovskis and Commissioners Oettinger, Andriukaitis, Bieńkowska, Moedas and Gabriel was also published during the Digital Day event. The declaration calls for the single digital market strategy to be completed and concludes, “Key proposals on the free flow of non-personal data for better connectivity still have to be approved by the European Parliament and member states. They are essential for developing technologies such as artificial intelligence. Europe should also invest more in digitalisation, research and innovation”. The text to the declaration on innovation can be consulted at the following link: https://bit.ly/2qo0J1i. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)