CognitiveNations

The Divided European AI Landscape

With its excellent talent pool, leading research centres, advanced technologies, and DNA for innovation, Europe has everything to be able to preserve its technological sovereignty, industrial leadership and economic competitiveness. In fact, Europe can become the world leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI). With its 44 countries and close to 750 million citizens, Europe, however, certainly has its own challenges. Besides the vast differences in the political systems and economic development, we can also witness a digital gap that is not only widening across the countries of Europe but also on a global level. Global digital players around the world keep attracting European talent, which is also contributing to the widening gap and slower digital development.

Tailored Strategies & Shared Goals

As the result of the digital gap, as well as the diversity of politics and economic development of the European countries, to remain competitive in the AI era, strategies and approaches carefully need to be tailored in each country. In this sense, “one size certainly does not fit all”. On the other hand, however, for sustainable development, goals do need to be shared across countries. Goals do not necessarily mean economic gain and head to head competition with China or the US, for instance. It means retaining European talent in Europe and focusing resources on the competitive edge that Europe has to offer.

Human-Centric AI Development

AI needs the trust of the citizen to develop. This can only be achieved with the right processes, policies, and strategies in place that consider technological, ethical, legal and socio-economic aspects. Once trust is gained, AI can be advanced further, bringing solutions to many societal challenges varying from automotive to energy, and from healthcare to agriculture.

Fostered Collaboration

Due to the relatively small size of countries of Europe, it is fundamental that collaboration is fostered. For mutual benefit, result and effects of research and development need to be shared transparently, with stakeholders closely working together. Partnership between business and education needs to be encouraged, and industries, organisations, governments, and policymakers need to work together.

To gain a better overview of the European AI landscape, the CognitiveNations series bring a handful of European countries together to discuss the status of research, development, and the operating environment of AI, including technological, ethical, legal and socio-economic aspects. AI experts and leaders provide a high-level overview on the development of AI in their countries, followed by a more detailed exchange across the selected country representatives. The discussion will be continued by practical AI examples from experts, revealing hands-on developments, processes, challenges, and achievements.

Event Overview