After the Coordinated Plan on Artificial intelligence, the European Commission moves further with its actions to bring the EU at the forefront of AI. A new grant agreement, signed with the AI4EU project on 12 December, is launching an AI-on-demand platform to become a single point of access to all relevant resources in Europe. Based on a Europe-wide network that already counts 79 partners from 21 different countries, the platform is expected to mobilise the whole European AI ecosystem by lowering barriers to innovation, boosting technology transfer and catalysing the growth of start-ups and SMEs in all sectors.

Eight industry-driven AI pilots will demonstrate the value of the AI-on-demand platform as a technological innovation tool. In addition, the project also includes the creation of an Ethical Observatory to ensure the respect of EU regulations and human centred AI values as well as a Foundation to ensure its own sustainability. The results of the project will feed the drafting of a new comprehensive Strategic Research Innovation Agenda for Europe.

Led by the French company Thales, the AI4EU partners are meeting for the first time in Barcelona to kick off the project that officially starts this month. A total funding of €20 million is granted to the AI4EU for the next 3 years. The project provides the allocation of €3 million in the Financial Support for Third Parties (FSTPs), to fund promising projects (selected through open competitive calls) that will make use of the resources and services offered by the platform.

The AI4EU project will work closely with the Digital Innovation Hubs for robotics, financed under the Digitising European Industry Call of Horizon 2020.

- Read the Press Release

- Visit the Project Page