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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

The European Commission has just launched the pilot phase of the ethics guidelines for trustworthy AI, as the High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence released its policy recommendations.

Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, said:

The new recommendations presented by the experts are an essential input for our continuing joint work with EU Member States to ensure the development of a trustworthy AI – the use of ground-breaking technology that respects privacy, provides transparency and prevents discrimination. Shaped in this way, artificial intelligence technologies can become a real competitive advantage for European businesses and society as a whole.

At the first AI Alliance Assembly in Brussels today, the High-Level Expert Group on AI announced two important developments:

1. Piloting phase of the ethics guidelines for trustworthy AI

As of today, organisations can test the assessment list for trustworthy artificial intelligence, developed by a group of 52 independent experts on behalf of the Commission, and see how robust it is in practice. Over 300 organisations have already expressed interest in doing so since the group released its Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI in April this year. An online survey has been created to gather feedback on the assessment list and will be open until 1 December 2019. Best practice examples for assessing the trustworthiness of AI can also be shared through the European AI Alliance.

The expert group will also carry out in-depth interviews with selected representatives from the public and private sectors to better understand the implications of implementing the assessment list in different sectors. Organisations who would like to participate can express interest through the pilot registration form.

Both the interviews and the feedback from the piloting survey will feed into a revised version of the assessment list, to be presented in early 2020, and will impact the next steps to be taken by the new Commission.

2. Policy and investment recommendations for trustworthy AI in Europe

The expert group also today presented to the Commission a list of 33 recommendations that it believe will help AI have major impact on citizens, businesses, administrations and academia. The focus is on ensuring sustainability, growth, competitiveness and inclusion while empowering, benefiting and protecting individuals. The recommendations presented today will help the Commission and Member States to update their joint coordinated plan on AI at the end of the year, which plays a key role in building the future of artificial intelligence in Europe.

The recommendations call on EU and national policymakers to:

• Empower and protect humans and society: ensure individuals understand the capabilities, limitations and impacts of AI; protect them from any harm; and provide them with the necessary skills to use and benefit from AI.
• Take up a tailored approach to the AI market: assess the different needs and sensitivities  raised by AI systems used in Business-to-consumers (B2C), Business-to-business (B2B) and Public-to-Citizens (P2C) contexts, and address these accordingly.
• Secure a Single European Market for Trustworthy AI: remove barriers to procure lawful, ethical and robust AI-enabled goods and services from all over Europe, while enabling a competitive global position through large integrated markets.
• Enable AI ecosystems through sectoral multi-stakeholder alliances: boost stakeholder cooperation across civil society, industry, the public sector and research and academia, while understanding the different impacts and enablers for different sectors.
• Foster the European data economy: further advance policy actions in data access, sharing, reusing and interoperability, while ensuring high privacy and data protection, and putting in place the necessary physical infrastructures.
• Exploit the multi-faceted role of the public sector: ensure the public sector leads by example by delivering human-centric public services, making strategic use of innovation-driven public procurement, and fostering cooperation with stakeholders.
• Strenghten and unite Europe’s research capabilities: establish and demonstrate intellectual and commercial leadership in AI by bringing together European research capacity in a multidisciplinary manner.
• Nurture education to the Fourth Power: ensure a wide skills base through primary, secondary and tertiary education, as well as enabling continuous learning and strive towards a work-life-train balance.
• Adopt a risk-based governance approach to AI and ensure an appropriate regulatory framework: map relevant laws, assess to which extent these are still fit for purpose in an AI-driven world, and adopt new measures where needed to protect individuals from harm, thus contributing to an appropriate governance and regulatory framework for AI.
• Stimulate an open and lucrative investment environment: enhance investment levels in AI with both public and private support.
• Embrace a holistic way of working, combining a 10-year vision with a rolling action plan: look at AI’s overall opportunities and challenges for the next 10 years, while continuously monitoring the AI landscape and adapting actions on a rolling basis as needed; join forces with all stakeholders for the concrete implementation of the ethics guidelines and policy recommendations.

Background

The Commission is facilitating and enhancing cooperation on AI across the EU to boost its competitiveness and ensure trust based on EU values. Following its  strategy on AI for Europe, the Commission set up the High-Level Expert Group on AI, which consists of 52 independent experts representing academia, industry and civil society. They published a first draft of the ethics guidelines in December 2018, followed by a stakeholder consultation and meetings with representatives from Member States to gather feedback. This followed the coordinated plan with Member States to foster the development and use of AI in Europe, also presented in December 2018. The final ethics guidelines were presented in April 2019 when the Commission also announced the pilot phase to refine the assessment list that helps organisations implement these guidelines.

Europe is known for high-quality and safe products, and these guidelines are the attempt to transfer this promise to the burgeoning area of AI. Trustworthy AI can become a real competitive advantage for European AI companies.

The EU AI strategy aims at increasing the combined public and private investments to €20 billion annually over the next decade, making more data available, fostering talent and ensuring trust. The EU’s first ever Digital Europe Programme will dedicate €2.5 billion to support the deployment of AI and the building up of additional capacities in this domainacross Europe.

More information

• Communication: “Building trust in human-centric artificial intelligence”
• AI ethics guidelines
• AI policy and investment recommendations
• Factsheet artificial intelligence
• High-Level Expert Group on AI
• European AI Alliance
• Artificial Intelligence: A European Perspective
• Artificial Intelligence Watch 

Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/eu-artificial-intelligence-ethics-checklist-ready-testing-new-policy-recommendations-are-published

The AI4EU project officially starts this month, with a kick-off meeting among the partners in Barcelona on 10 January. AI4EU brings together 79 top research institutes, SMEs and large enterprises in 21 countries to build a focal point for artificial intelligence (AI) resources, including data repositories, computing power, tools and algorithms. It will offer services and provide support to potential users of the technology, help them test and integrate AI solutions in their processes, products and services.

AI4EU, an open and collaborative platform, will also provide upskilling and reskilling courses. The AI4EU project team will work closely with the Digital Innovation Hubs for robotics and the future network of AI excellence centres to further facilitate access to AI technology.

Commission Vice-President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip and Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Mariya Gabriel said:

Europe can only reap the full benefits of AI innovations if this technology is easily usable by all. The AI4EU project will help bring AI to small businesses, non-tech companies and public administrations across Europe.

The project, led by the French company Thales, receives a total funding of €20 million over the next 3 years. The platform will be set up in the course of 2019. On 25 April 2018, the Commission presented its strategy on artificial intelligence, announcing the development of the AI-on-demand platform. Overall the Commission is increasing its investment in research and innovation in AI to €1.5 billion for the period 2018-2020 under the Horizon 2020 programme. Total public and private investments in the EU should reach at least €20 billion by the end of 2020. Building on its strategy, the Commission presented in December a coordinated plan to foster cooperation with EU Member States, Norway, and Switzerland in four key areas: increasing investment, making more data available, fostering talent and ensuring trust.

More information

AI4EU project website

AI4EU project launches on 1 January 2019 

Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/artificial-intelligence-79-partners-21-countries-develop-ai-demand-platform-eu20-million-eu-funding