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Sectorial AI Testing and Experimentation Facilities under the Digital Europe Programme

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To make the EU the place where AI excellence thrives from the lab to the market, the European Union is setting up world-class Testing and Experimentation Facilities (TEFs) for AI.

Together with Member States, the Commission is co-funding the TEFs to support AI developers to bring trustworthy AI to the market more efficiently, and facilitate its uptake in Europe. TEFs are specialised large-scale reference sites open to all technology providers across Europe to test and experiment at scale state-of-the art AI solutions, including both soft-and hardware products and services, e.g. robots, in real-world environments.

These large-scale reference testing and experimentation facilities will offer a combination of physical and virtual facilities, in which technology providers can get support to test their latest AI-based soft-/hardware technologies in real-world environments. This will include support for full integration, testing and experimentation of latest AI-based technologies to solve issues/improve solutions in a given application sector, including validation and demonstration.

TEFs can also contribute to the implementation of the Artificial Intelligence Act by supporting regulatory sandboxes in cooperation with competent national authorities for supervised testing and experimentation.

TEFs will be an important part of building the AI ecosystem of excellence and trust to support Europe’s strategic leadership in AI.

The Digital Europe Programme 2023-2024 is proposing a Coordination and Support action (CSA), to apply a cross-sector perspective to all existing sectorial Testing and Experimentation Facilities (TEFs). the action was launched on the 25 April. For more on the information session see our event report page.

TEF Projects

The selected TEFs projects started on January 1st 2023. They focus on the following high-impact sectors:

  • Agri-Food: project “agrifoodTEF”
  • Healthcare: project “TEF-Health”
  • Manufacturing: project “AI-MATTERS”
  • Smart Cities & Communities: project “Citcom.AI”

Co-funding between the European Commission (through the Digital Europe Programme) and the Member States will support the TEFs for five years with budgets between EUR 40-60 million per project. On 27 June,  the European Commission along with Member States and 128 partners from research, industry, and public organisations launched their investment in the four projects.

Smart cities:

Artificial Intelligence Testing and Experimentation Facilities for Smart Cities & Communities: Citcom.AI

The new EU-wide network of permanent testing and experimentation facility (TEF) for smart cities and communities will help accelerate the development of trustworthy AI in Europe by giving companies access to test and try out AI-based products in real-world conditions.

By further developing and strengthening existing infrastructures and expertise, CitCom.ai provides reality lab-oriented conditions in test and experimental facilities, relevant for AI and robotics solutions targeting sustainable development of cities and communities. In doing so, Citcom.ai helps European cities and communities in the transition towards a greener and more digital Europe and in maintaining and developing their resilience and competitiveness.

CitCom.ai focuses on three overarching themes:

  • POWER targets changing energy systems and reducing energy consumption.
  • MOVE targets more efficient and greener transportation linked to logistics and mobility.
  • CONNECT serves citizens through local infrastructures and cross-sector services.

These areas support AI and robot-based innovations that promote solutions organised according to the three overarching themes for use cases such as:

  • POWER:  energy such as local district heating load forecasts; environmental solutions such as adaptive street lighting; cybersecurity, ethics & edge learn.
  • MOVE: urban machine learning algorithms such as predicting pedestrian flow, smart intersection such identifying road safety concerns, electro-mobility and autonomous driving.
  • CONNECT: pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and noise management, urban development management, water and water-waste management, integrated facility management, delivery management by drones and tourism management.

Citcom.AI is organised as three “super nodes” Nordic, Central and South with satellites and sub-nodes located across 11 countries in the European Union: Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Spain, Poland and Itay. The consortium of 36 partners is coordinated by the Technical University of Denmark. Co-funded by the Digital Europe Programme, the 5-year project started in January with an overall budget of €40 million and is expected to achieve long-term financial sustainability.

Relevant Link:

Join us in building the European way of Digital Transformation for 300 million Europeans | Living in EU (living-in.eu)

TEF-Health:

Artificial Intelligence Testing and Experimentation Facilities for Health AI and Robotics: TEF-Health

The EU project TEF-Health is a network of real testing facilities, such as hospital platforms, both physical infrastructures and data and compute infrastructures, living labs, etc., and laboratory testing facilities that will offer to innovators to carry out tests and experiments of their AI and robotics solutions  in large-scale and sustainable real or realistic environments. The consortium is implementing evaluation activities that facilitate market access for trustworthy intelligent technologies, particularly by considering new regulatory requirements (certification, standardization, code of conduct, etc.). TEF- Health will ensure easy access to these evaluation resources (link with digital innovation hubs, etc.).

In doing so, TEF-Health contributes to increasing effectiveness, resilience, sustainability of EU health and care systems; reduce healthcare delivery inequalities in EU; and ensure compliance with legal, ethical, quality and interoperability standards.

A key component of an agile certification process are regulatory sandboxes where all relevant stakeholders can work together to create innovative testing and validation tools for trustworthy AI in medical devices for specific use-cases.

The use-cases are defined in four domains: 1) Neurotec, 2) Cancer, 3) CardioVascular and 4) Intensive Care.

The consortium comprises seven nodes in Germany, France, Sweden, Belgium, Portugal, Slovakia, Italy, two associated nodes in Finland and Czechia and the pan-EU structures EBRAINS AISBL, EITHealth and EHDS2 Pilot initiative. The consortium of 51 partners is coordinated by Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Co-funded by the Digital Europe Programme, the 5-year project started in January 2023 with an overall budget of €60 million and is expected to achieve long-term financial sustainability.

Relevant links:

European Cancer Imaging Initiative | Shaping Europe’s digital future (europa.eu)

A cancer plan for Europe (europa.eu)

European Health Data Space (europa.eu)

European data strategy (europa.eu)

Agri-food:

Artificial Intelligence Testing and Experimentation Facilities for Agrifood Innovation: AgrifoodTEF

Built as a network of physical and digital facilities across Europe, the EU project agrifoodTEF provides services that help assess and validate third party AI and Robotics solutions in real-world conditions aiming to foster sustainable and efficient food production. AgrifoodTEF offers validation tools to innovators so they can develop their ideas into market products and services.

There are five impact sectors: arable farming (performance enhancement of autonomous driving vehicles), tree corps (optimisation of natural resources and inputs for Mediterranean crops), horticulture (finding the right nutrient balance as well as crop and yield quality), livestock farming (improvement of  sustainability in cow, pig and paltry farming) and food processing (traceability of production and supply chains).

The use cases include quality crops, agro-machinery, AI conformity assessment, agro ecology in controlled environments, co-creation in agrifood production, HPC for agrifood, AI for arable and farmland machinery, and new frontiers for sustainable farming in the North.

AgrifoodTEF is organised in national nodes (Italy, Germany and France) and satellite nodes (Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Austria). The consortium of 29 partners is coordinated by Fondazione Bruno Kessler. Co-funded by the Digital Europe Programme, the 5-year project started in January 2023 with an overall budget of €60 million and is expected to achieve long-term financial sustainability.

Relevant links:

Fark to Fork Strategy

Manufacturing:

Artificial Intelligence Testing and Experimentation Facilities for Manufacturing Innovation: AI-Matters

The AI-MATTERS project is building a network of physical and digital facilities across Europe where innovators can validate their solutions under real-life conditions. The EU-project contributes to increasing the resilience and the flexibility of the European manufacturing sector through the deployment of the latest developments in AI, robotics, smart and autonomous systems.

AI-MATTERS will provide an extensive catalogue of services to innovators in the following key topics: factory-level optimization, human-robot interaction, circular economy and adoption of emerging AI enabling technologies. All consortium members bring their expertise in manufacturing for different sectors such as automotive, space and mobility, textile, recycling, etc.

The AI-Matters network will provide testing and experimentation facilities from companies across Europe at eight locations in Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the Czech Republic. The consortium of 25 partners is coordinated by CEA-List. Co-funded by the Digital Europe Programme, the 5-year project started in January 2023 with an overall budget of €60 million and is expected to achieve long-term financial sustainability.

Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/activities/testing-and-experimentation-facilities#tab_1

Commission launches AI innovation package to support Artificial Intelligence startups and SMEs

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The Commission has launched this week a package of measures to support European startups and SMEs in the development of trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (AI) that respects EU values and rules.

This follows the political agreement reached in December 2023 on the EU AI Act – the world’s first comprehensive law on Artificial Intelligence – which will support the development, deployment and take-up of trustworthy AI in the EU.

In her 2023 State of the Union address, President von der Leyen announced a new initiative to make Europe’s supercomputers available to innovative European AI startups to train their trustworthy AI models. As a first step, the Commission launched in November 2023 the Large AI Grand Challenge, a prize giving AI startups financial support and supercomputing access. This package puts that commitment into practice through a broad range of measures to support AI startups and innovation, including a proposal to provide privileged access to supercomputers to AI startups and the broader innovation community.

Read more about:

Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-launches-ai-innovation-package-support-artificial-intelligence-startups-and-smes

Commission opens access to EU supercomputers to speed up artificial intelligence development

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The Commission and the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) have committed to open and widen access to the EU’s world-class supercomputing resources for European artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups, SMEs and the broader AI community as part of the EU AI Start-Up Initiative.

To support the further development and scalability of AI models, access to world-class supercomputers that accelerate AI training and testing is crucial, reducing training time from months or years to a matter of weeks.

The statement was made in the context of the fourth AI Alliance Assembly in Madrid and follows an announcement by President von der Leyen in her 2023 State of the Union address. European AI and high-performance computing (HPC) actors will closely cooperate to drive breakthrough innovation and enhance the competitiveness of the European AI industrial ecosystem. This will accelerate the development of AI and position the European Union as a global competitive leader.

Full press release

European Commission High-Performance Computing

The European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking

A European Approach to Artificial Intelligence

The European AI Alliance

Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-opens-access-eu-supercomputers-speed-artificial-intelligence-development

Fourth European AI Alliance Assembly took place in Madrid

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The fourth edition of the European AI Alliance Assembly took place in Madrid on 16 and 17 November.

On 16 and 17 November the 4th European AI Alliance Assembly  took place with the theme of  “Leading Trustworthy AI globally”. The event was organised within the context of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU. Opening remarks were given by Deputy Prime Minister of Spain, Nadia Calviño Santamaría, as well as by Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton on EU leadership in trustworthy AI (video message).

The European AI Alliance is the EU’s flagship initiative that since 2018 brings together policymakers and stakeholders to contribute to shaping Europe’s artificial intelligence policy. This year’s Assembly of the AI Alliance marks another important milestone in the European AI Strategy, with the AI Act heading towards adoption and the updated Coordinated Plan on AI in its second year of implementation.

The event was an opportunity to exchange about significant legislative developments and inform stakeholders about the next steps regarding the AI Pact.

Participants attended panels dedicated to generative AI, cybersecurity and AI, as well as helping AI innovators get to market. The discussions featured the EU’s upcoming boost on AI uptake by letting startups access its high-performance supercomputers.

Discussions also tackled topics emerging on the international scene such as Council of Europe’s Convention on AI and other bilateral and multilateral cooperation initiatives for trustworthy AI.

The 4th European AI Alliance Assembly   was an open, public event, co-organised by the European Commission and the Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation.

Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/fourth-european-ai-alliance-assembly-took-place-madrid

European Digital Innovation Hubs

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European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) are one-stop shops supporting companies and public sector organisations to respond to digital challenges and become more competitive.

EDIHs support companies to improve business/production processes, products, or services using digital technologies by:

  • providing access to technical expertise and testing, as well as the possibility to ‘test before invest’
  • providing innovation services, such as financing advice, training, and skills development that are central to successful digital transformation
  • helping companies tackle environmental issues, in particular the use of digital technologies for sustainability and circularity.

EDIHs combine the benefits of a regional presence with the opportunities available to a pan-European network. This regional presence leaves them well-placed to provide the services local companies need, through the local language and innovation ecosystem. The European coverage of the network facilitates the exchange of best practices across hubs in different countries as well as the provision of specialised services across regions when the required skills are not locally available.

Following the adoption of the Digital Europe Programme work programme (DIGITAL) (.pdf), the first restricted call for EDIHs has been completed with 136 projects chosen and most hubs operational in January 2023.  A second call was launched to supplement the selection of EDIHs and to fill the gaps in the Network which resulted in the selection of a further 15 hubs. These further hubs will likely be operational by mid 2023.  Under this programme, 50% of the funding is provided by DIGITAL, and the other 50% is provided by the Member States, associated countries, their regions and/or private sources. National governments and regional authorities played a central role in the selection process of the EDIHs by identifying suitable candidate EDIHs to respond to the European calls for proposals.

High-quality candidate EDIHs, for which no DIGITAL funding was available, have received a Seal of Excellence. Some of these will be funded by their Member States or region and once they are operational, they can also become part of the network of EDIHs.

The EDIH Network

With the EDIH network the European Commission wants to build a vibrant community of hubs and other stakeholders fostering networking, co-operation, and knowledge transfer activities between EDIH, SME and mid-caps, the public sector and the other relevant stakeholders and initiatives. The Digital Transformation Accelerator (DTA) is supporting the achievement of this goal, through managing the web presence of the network, and hosting appropriate software platform and tools, including the online catalogue of EDIHs.

The EDIH network web portal includes tools to assess the performance of the EDIH network, gauging the impact that EDIHs have on the digital maturity of the organisations they support. To this end, the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission has developed a Digital Maturity Assessment tool which can be used by all EDIHs to measure the progress of Digital Maturity of their customers. The Digital Maturity Assessment tool is available in the section of the web portal reserved for registered EDIHs.

European Digital Innovation Hubs and other initiatives

Many EDIHs include organisations that are part of Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) or European Industrial Clusters (EIC).  EDIHs should develop a strong connection with other networks, including EEN, EIC and Start-up Europe, to provide a seamless service to SMEs within local and regional ecosystems. A guidance document is under development to provide good practices and further detail on this cooperation.

Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/activities/edihs

EU invests €220 million to test AI solutions for healthcare, food, industry, and everyday life

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On 27 June 2023 the European Commission along with Member States and 128 partners from research, industry, and public organisations launched €220 million worth of investment in four sectoral Testing and Experimentation Facilities (TEFs) for AI, at an event in Copenhagen

The European Commission co-funds the TEFs with €110 million over five years under the Digital Europe Programme.

TEFs are designed to support AI developers to bring trustworthy AI to the market more efficiently, and facilitate its uptake in Europe, as well as to act as a sandbox for AI technologies’ development and deployment. They are open to all technology providers across Europe to test and experiment with AI and robotics among other emerging technologies.

The four TEFs launched include:

  • The CitCom.ai TEF which is intended to help develop tech for smart cities and communities, with an initial focus on energy, transport, and connectivity. It will help accelerate the development of trustworthy AI in Europe by giving companies access to test and try out AI-based products in real-world conditions;
  • The TEF-Health which concerns the healthcare sector, from machine learning in medical imaging to complex brain simulations, and robots for intervention and rehabilitation;
  • The AI-Matters TEF, which aims to increase the resilience and flexibility of the European manufacturing sector by deploying the latest developments in AI and robotics and intelligent, autonomous systems for flexible production;
  • The agrifood TEF which deals with the agricultural sector and food production. Examples of use would include testing a robotic tractor, or using artificial intelligence to optimise crop production.

The four testing facilities will be fully open as of January 2024 with some services already, with some services starting already in July 2023.

More information

Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/eu-invests-eu220-million-test-ai-solutions-healthcare-food-industry-and-everyday-life

A European approach to artificial intelligence

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The EU’s approach to artificial intelligence centers on excellence and trust, aiming to boost research and industrial capacity while ensuring safety and fundamental rights.

The way we approach Artificial Intelligence (AI) will define the world we live in the future. To help building a resilient Europe for the Digital Decade, people and businesses should be able to enjoy the benefits of AI while feeling safe and protected.

The European AI Strategy aims at making the EU a world-class hub for AI and ensuring that AI is human-centric and trustworthy. Such an objective translates into the European approach to excellence and trust through concrete rules and actions.

In April 2021, the Commission presented its AI package, including:

A European approach to excellence in AI

Fostering excellence in AI will strengthen Europe’s potential to compete globally.

The EU will achieve this by:

  1. enabling the development and uptake of AI in the EU;
  2. making the EU the place where AI thrives from the lab to the market;
  3. ensuring that AI works for people and is a force for good in society;
  4. building strategic leadership in high-impact sectors.

The Commission and Member States agreed to boost excellence in AI by joining forces on policy and investments. The 2021 review of the Coordinated Plan on AI outlines a vision to accelerate, act, and align priorities with the current European and global AI landscape and bring AI strategy into action.

Maximising resources and coordinating investments is a critical component of AI excellence. Through the Horizon Europe and Digital Europe programmes, the Commission plans to invest €1 billion per year in AI. It will mobilise additional investments from the private sector and the Member States in order to reach an annual investment volume of €20 billion over the course of the digital decade.

The Recovery and Resilience Facility makes €134 billion available for digital. This will be a game-changer, allowing Europe to amplify its ambitions and become a global leader in developing cutting-edge, trustworthy AI.

Access to high quality data is an essential factor in building high performance, robust AI systems. Initiatives such as the EU Cybersecurity Strategy, the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, and the Data Governance Act provide the right infrastructure for building such systems.

A European approach to trust in AI

Building trustworthy AI will create a safe and innovation-friendly environment for users, developers and deployers.

The Commission has proposed 3 inter-related legal initiatives that will contribute to building trustworthy AI:

  1. a European legal framework for AI to address fundamental rights and safety risks specific to the AI systems;
  2. a civil liability framework – adapting liability rules to the digital age and AI;
  3. a revision of sectoral safety legislation (e.g. Machinery Regulation, General Product Safety Directive).

European proposal for a legal framework on AI

The Commission aims to address the risks generated by specific uses of AI through a set of complementary, proportionate and flexible rules. These rules will also provide Europe with a leading role in setting the global gold standard.

This framework gives AI developers, deployers and users the clarity they need by intervening only in those cases that existing national and EU legislations do not cover. The legal framework for AI proposes a clear, easy to understand approach, based on four different levels of risk: unacceptable risk, high risk, limited risk, and minimal risk.

Important milestones

  1. September 2022
    Proposal for an AI liability directive
  2. July 2022
    Council of EU: FR Presidency Compromise text on the AI Act
    European Parliament, TRAN opinion
    European Parliament, ITRE opinion
  3. June 2022
    Launch of first AI regulatory sandbox in Spain: Bringing the AI Regulation forward
  4. April 2022
    European Parliament, ENVI opinion
  5. December 2021
    Committee of the Regions, Opinion on the AI Act

    European Central Bank, Opinion on the AI Act

  6. November 2021
    Council of the EU: SI Presidency compromise text on the AI Act

    High-Level Conference on AI: From Ambition to Action (3d European AI Alliance Assembly)

    European Economic and Social Committee, Opinion on the AI Act
  7. June 2021
    Public consultation on Civil liability – adapting liability rules to the digital age and artificial intelligence

    European Commission: Proposal for a Regulation on Product Safety

  8. April 2021
    European Commission: Communication on Fostering a European approach to AI
    European Commission: Proposal for a regulation laying down harmonised rules on AI

    European Commission: updated coordinated plan on AI

    European Commission: Impact assessment of an AI regulation

  9. October 2020
    2nd European AI Alliance Assembly
  10. July 2020
    Inception impact assessment: Ethical and legal requirements on AI
    High-Level Expert Group on AI: Final assessment list on trustworthy AI (ALTAI)
    High-Level Expert Group on AI: Sectorial recommendations of trustworthy AI
  11. February 2020
    European Commission: White paper on AI: a European approach to excellence and trust
    Public consultation on a European approach to excellence and trust in AI
  12. December 2019
    High-Level Expert Group on AI: Piloting of assessment list of trustworthy AI
  13. June 2019
    First European AI Alliance Assembly
    High-Level Expert Group on AI: Policy and investment recommendations of AI
  14. April 2019
    European Commission Communication: Building trust in human-centric artificial intelligence
    High-Level expert group on AI: Ethics guidelines for trustworthy AI
  15. December 2018
    European Commission: Coordinated plan on AI
    European Commission (Press release): AI made in Europe
    European Commission Communication: AI made in Europe
    Stakeholder consultation on draft ethics guidelines for trustworthy AI
  16. June 2018
    Launch of the European AI alliance
    Set up of the high-level expert group on AI
  17. April 2018
    Press release: Artificial intelligence for Europe
    Communication: Artificial intelligence for Europe
    Staff working document: Liability for emerging digital technologies
    Declaration of cooperation on artificial intelligence
  18. March 2018
    Press release: AI expert group and European AI alliance

    Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/european-approach-artificial-intelligence?fbclid=IwAR28OIj2qLTS62b_JUhNoWXxVSYlD5gM20Xpn8G8VwsRFRULtmNEKI6EpSk

 

EU to invest €13.5 billion in research and innovation for 2023-2024

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The Commission has adopted the main Horizon Europe work programme 2023-24, with around €13.5 billion to support researchers and innovators in Europe to pursue breakthrough solutions for environmental, energy, digital and geopolitical challenges.

As part of the broader EU €95.5 billion research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe, this funding will contribute to the EU reaching its climate goals, increasing energy resilience, and developing core digital technologies. It will also address targeted actions to support Ukraine, boost economic resilience and contribute to a sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic

It will help to achieve a stronger European research and innovation ecosystem, including through wider participation of researchers and innovators across Europe, greater mobility and funding for world class research infrastructures.

Delivering on climate action and digital transformation

€5.67 billion (over 42% of the work programme’s budget) is dedicated to reaching key climate action objectives, finding innovative solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change. €1.67 billion contributes to supporting biodiversity.

Over €4.5 billion will support the EU digital transition, including for the development of core digital technologies and encouraging their integration in our lives.

Extensive support will also be provided to the New European Bauhaus, which aims to show the benefits of the green transition in people’s daily lives and living spaces.

Supporting a safe, secure and resilient Europe

Nearly €970 million will be invested to help speed up the clean energy transition, in line with the REPowerEU Plan, and increase Europe’s energy independence from unreliable suppliers and volatile fossil fuels.

In 2023, the work programme will direct investments of more than €1 billion from NextGeneration EU towards Europe’s recovery from the economic and social damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, it supportsresearch and innovation with €336 million to enhance pandemic preparedness and to respond to health emergencies. This is in line with the objectives of the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA).

It will also support critical infrastructures against physical and cyber threats to reinforce the EU resilience.

Targeted support to Ukraine

Targeted support to Ukraine is provided on top of the €70 million of dedicated measures already launched in 2022. New actions include reinforcing the access of researchers from Ukraine to European research infrastructures, continuing support to the health scientists from Ukraine, and supporting the climate-neutral reconstruction of several Ukrainian cities through the EU Mission for Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities.

Global challenges require global solutions

The Horizon Europe work programme 2023-2024 covers actions to support and strengthen international initiatives in renewable energies, food systems, global health, environmental observations and more. It builds on the ‘Africa Initiative’ and introduces the new ‘Mediterranean Initiative’, responding to the new research and innovation agenda developed with the Union for the Mediterranean.

Concerning cooperation with China, the work programme will focus on tackling global challenges through two research flagship initiatives on Food, Agriculture, and Biotechnology and Climate Change and Biodiversity.

Openness to international cooperation is balanced with the need to safeguard EU interests in strategic areas, in particular to promote the EU’s open strategic autonomy and its technological leadership and competitiveness.

EU Missions

More than €600 million will be invested in the five EU Missions in 2023. This will support research and innovation, which is expected to result in, for example, better prepared local and regional authorities to face climate-related risks, the restoration of at least 25 000 km of free-flowing rivers, Climate City Contracts with 100 cities, the roll-out of soil monitoring programmes or optimise minimally-invasive diagnostic cancer interventions. The Commission expects missions to raise contributions from other funding sources, to reach an overall level of investment at the end of 2023 that surpasses investments made from Horizon Europe.

Next Steps

The first calls for proposals will open on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal on 7 December 2022. Horizon Europe Information Days targeting potential applicants are taking place between 6 December 2022 and 16 February 2023.

Background

The 2023-2024 Horizon Europe work programme is based on Horizon Europe’s Strategic Plan 2021-2024, adopted in March 2021. It was co-created with stakeholders, Member States and the European Parliament. On 1 December, the Commission launched the largest public consultation ever held on the past, present and future of the EU’s Horizon research and innovation programmes 2014-2027. It is open for 12 weeks and contributes to the final evaluation of Horizon 2020, the interim evaluation of Horizon Europe as well as laying the groundwork for the preparations of the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan 2025-2027.

For More Information

Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-2024

Video of Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth

Horizon Europe Factsheets

Horizon Europe

Horizon Europe Strategic Plan

Funding & Tenders portal – funding opportunities

 

Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/eu-invest-eu135-billion-research-and-innovation-2023-2024

Digital rights and principles: a digital transformation for EU citizens

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The Commission welcomes the agreement reached with the Parliament and the Council on the European declaration on digital rights and principles. The declaration, proposed in January, establishes a clear reference point about the kind of human-centred digital transformation that the EU promotes and defends, at home and abroad.

It builds on key EU values and freedoms and will benefit all individuals and businesses. The declaration will also provide a guide for policymakers and companies when dealing with new technologies. The declaration focuses on six key areas: putting people at the centre of the digital transformation; solidarity and inclusion; freedom of choice; participation in digital life; safety and security; and sustainability.

Executive Vice-President for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age, Margrethe Vestager said:

The digital transformation is about ensuring that technologies are safe. That they work in our interests and respect our rights and values. The principles in the declaration of digital rights and principles will continue to be supported by EU legislation.

Commissioner Thierry Breton said:

The declaration on digital rights and principles will ensure Europe is the continent people look to for guidance in the digital transformation. It enshrines values we are already working towards, such as top-class connectivity, access to public services, and a safe digital world.

More information

Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/digital-rights-and-principles-digital-transformation-eu-citizens

big-data

Industrial applications of artificial intelligence and big data

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The deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) is critical for the success of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the EU. In industrial sectors in particular, AI solutions are becoming ever more important as they help to optimize production processes, predict machinery failures and develop more efficient smart services. European industry can also harness big data and the smart use of ICT to enhance productivity and performance, and pave the way for innovation. 

Critical industrial applications of AI for SMEs

We launched a study to explore the most critical AI applications to accelerate their uptake by SMEs within strategic European value chains. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) struggle more than large companies to keep up with the pace of digital transformation and industrial transition in general. They face specific challenges that could hamper wide AI adoption, reducing overall economic benefits for the European economy.

The study finds that there is a sound base of existing EU and national policy and initiatives that promote the uptake of advanced technologies. Yet, the key to success is to maintain policy focus on strategic priorities and increase coordination among them. See the reports on artificial intelligence for more insights.

Reports on Artificial Intelligence – critical industrial applications

Background

Artificial intelligence (AI) is now a priority for businesses, but also for policymakers, academic research institutions and the broader public. AI techniques are expected to bring benefits for governments, citizens and businesses, including in the fight against Covid-19, enabling resilience and improving green, sustainable growth. At the same time, AI has the potential to disrupt and possibly displace business models as well as impact the way people live and work.

The study advocates that while AI’s incremental GDP impact is initially moderate (up to 1.8% of additional cumulative GDP growth by 2025), there is significant potential in the longer-term (up to 13.5% of cumulative GDP growth by 2030), with disparities between regions and different industries. However, the potential of AI will fully materialise if European businesses, and in particular SMEs, are properly supported in their AI transition and grasp the competitive advantages it can provide.

AI is likely to have the largest economic impact on

  • manufacturing and the Industrial Internet of Things – IIoT, with overall AI impact potential in Europe of up to €200 billion by 2030
  • mobility, with AI impact potential of €300 billion
  • smart health, with AI impact potential of €105 billion

Foresight analysis of the effects of AI and automation technologies on the European labour market demonstrates significant effects in at least four ways

  1. labour substitution (with capital) is likely to displace parts of the workforce
  2. investment in AI and AI-enabled product and service innovation may create new direct jobs
  3. wealth creation may create positive spillover effects for the economy
  4. AI could enable higher participation in global flows (data and trade), creating additional jobs

These topics were initially debated during the conference, ‘A European perspective on Artificial Intelligence: Paving the way for SMEs’ AI adoption in key industrial value chains‘ held in Brussels in February 2020, with over 200 stakeholders.

Business-to-business big data sharing and access

In spite of huge economic potential (see below), data sharing between companies has not taken off at sufficient scale. The Commission seeks to identify and address any undue hurdles hindering data sharing and the use of privately-held data by other companies, as announced in the February 2020 Communication, ‘A European strategy for data’.

On business-to-business (B2B) data sharing, we are deploying two big data pilot projects to explore the innovation potential and innovative business models created by sharing data between data-producing/controlling entities and third-party businesses, notably SMEs. These pilot projects are being carried out in two strategic value chains: smart health (where the aim is to use data on diabetes from healthcare providers) and automotive (where sharing in-vehicle data produced by connected vehicles will be examined). Both projects are part of the ‘Big data and B2B platforms: the next frontier for Europe’s industry and enterprises’ study being carried out from 2019 to 2021.

Background

By harnessing the intelligence of big data and digital platforms, European industries can enhance productivity and performance, increase profitability, strengthen their competitive advantage, reduce risk, and pave the way for innovation. According to the Big data and B2B platforms report by the Strategic Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship, industrial companies are expected to make 3.6% per year in cost reductions over the next five years by basing business decisions on big data analytics. The big data European economy is expected to grow almost three times by 2025, reaching an estimated €829 billion, or 5.8% of EU GDP.

Sourse: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/policy/advanced-technologies/industrial-applications-artificial-intelligence-and-big-data_en