On Friday 7 December, the European Commission presented a coordinated plan with the Member States, as well as Norway and Switzerland, to support ‘made in Europe’ artificial intelligence (AI), by supporting public and private investment, facilitating access and dissemination of data.
The objective is to consolidate the Union's positions in the field of AI on the international scene, in particular with China and the United States.
"Our goal is to generate at least €20 billion in private and public investment by the end of 2020", said Andrus Ansip, Vice-President for the Digital Single Market.
This coordinated plan, which follows on from the AI strategy presented in April (see EUROPE 12009), is the result of six months of coordination work, which identifies existing joint actions. This census will be updated annually.
The Commission explains that priority has been given to subjects of public interest, such as health, mobility, safety and energy.
Therefore, the institution wants to strengthen investment through partnerships and has set itself two objectives: to mobilize €20 billion of public and private investment by the end of 2020 and an additional €20 billion by the end of 2030. The Commission intends to inject €1.5 billion by 2020, an increase of 70% compared to the 2014-2017 period.
Investments are structured around 4 axes: - the establishment of national AI strategies by mid-2019; - the creation of a new partnership for research and innovation in AI to strengthen collaboration between industry and universities; - the launch of a new fund to support start-ups and SMEs in the field of AI; and - the establishment of a world-class network of centres of excellence.
In addition, the Commission wants to create "European Data Spaces" in connection with the entry into force of the Regulation on the free movement of non-personal data in 2019. Objective: To facilitate data exploitation and cross-border activity of European companies by establishing a common normative framework. Data generated by the public sector will be freely accessible, much like the European land observation programme Copernicus (see EUROPE 11551).
In addition, the Commission intends to support training in the field of AI, in particular through specific scholarships, and to support workers in the digital transition, in particular those directly affected by the rise of AI.
Finally, a group of experts, made up of representatives from academia, business and civil society, will develop guidelines for developing ethical AI. A first version of these guidelines will be published by the end of 2018. The final version of these guidelines will be submitted to the Commission in March 2019 following an extensive consultation within the framework of the European Alliance for AI.
AI Watch, the Commission's new knowledge centre, will monitor the development of AI in Europe and the implementation of the coordinated plan. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)