While announcing the creation ofa Joint Cyber SecurityUnit in Europe, the European Commission published its report on the national strategies of EU member states, as well as those of Norway and Switzerland on artificial intelligence. The pooling of all these strategies was carried out by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the Commission and the Digital Economy Policy Division of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Validated by member state representatives, this document demonstrates the importance of working closely with all AI stakeholders.

A report to establish a parallel between the national strategies of the EU member states

The creation of this report initiated by the European Commission follows the publication of the Coordinated AI Plan 2021 presenting concrete proposals and recommendations for further joint actions between the EU and the Member States in order to strengthen the competitiveness of the union in the global AI landscape.

One of these recommendations was to carry out a review of the national AI strategies of all member states. The published report provides an updated analysis of the national AI strategies of Norway, Switzerland and all 27 EU member states.

Twenty member states in addition to Norway have already published their strategies, while seven others are in the process of finalising them (Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Cyprus, Germany and Finland). The document reporting on all these roadmaps gives an overview of national AI policies according to the following policy areas: human capital, from the laboratory to the market, networking, regulation, infrastructure, environmental impact (climate change). Given the current health context, each strategy includes a section related to the COVID-19 pandemic

Francophone strategies: Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and France

Below, you will find a quick overview of the situation in the French-speaking countries of the European Union:

• Belgium: the Belgian AI strategy is based on the following three pillars: Creating technological impact by supporting high-quality AI expertise and defining a responsible data strategy for AI, securing social and economic benefits by encouraging the continuous development of AI skills, building a strong and prosperous AI economy and optimising public services through AI, and building the right conditions for the development of an ethical, resilient and safe society through AI. The Belgian policy also builds on AI4Belgium.
• Luxembourg : The policy around AI in Luxembourg aims to strengthen these actions around these key areas: Improving AI skills and competences and providing lifelong learning opportunities, supporting AI research and development, transforming Luxembourg into a living laboratory for applied AI, increasing public and private investments in AI and related technologies, fostering the adoption and use of AI in the public sector, strengthening opportunities for national and international networks and collaborations with strategic AI partners, developing an ethical and regulatory framework, with a focus on regulation and privacy, to ensure transparent and reliable development of AI, unlocking the potential of the data economy as a cornerstone for AI development.
• Switzerland: The strategy adopted by the Swiss is structured around seventeen thematic areas. The main ones are: Improving AI-related skills and competences at all levels of education and creating learning opportunities throughout the career span of workers, fostering AI research and innovation to improve the competitiveness of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, improving public services through wider adoption and use of AI applications, supporting (international) networks and partnerships and ensuring the exchange of information and knowledge between all economic and institutional actors, establishing a regulatory and ethical framework to ensure sustainable and trustworthy AI, developing a data infrastructure to feed AI developments, and strengthening the telecommunication infrastructure, including cyber security.
• France: The French plan highlights three objectives: Improving the AI education and training ecosystem to develop, retain and attract world-class AI talent, establishing an open data policy for the implementation of AI applications and asset sharing, and developing an ethical framework for transparent and fair use of AI applications. To this end, the French government will devote €1.5 billion to the development of AI by the end of 2022, including €700 million for research. The 4th generation of the national multi-year investment program for the future is being developed in 2022. One sub-program will be dedicated to AI and several other sub-programs will include actions related to the national AI strategy.

Translated from La commission européenne publie son rapport sur le déploiement des stratégies nationales autour de l’intelligence artificielle