OECD/European Commission Joint Research Centre
The report titled "National Strategies on Artificial Intelligence: A European Perspective" is a deliverable of the Commission’s AI Watch and was presented during a joint webinar with the OECD, which took place today. It monitors the AI national strategies of all EU countries, as well as Norway and Switzerland, and this year’s update focuses on areas of cooperation for:
- strengthening AI education and skills;
- supporting research and innovation to drive AI developments into successful products and services, improving collaboration and networking;
- creating a regulatory framework to address the ethics and trustworthiness of AI systems;
- establishing a cutting-edge data ecosystem and ICT infrastructure.
Additionally, an important aspect covered in the report are initiatives tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and sustainability issues, such as environmental protection and climate change, proposed in the recently published or updated national strategies.
The report also provides an overview of the national competence centres in AI research and presents policies to promote data access and sharing as well as actions to stimulate the use of AI in public services. It also highlights country initiatives on regulatory sandboxes to allow experimentation in real-life conditions while reducing burdens to test innovations.
The AI Watch platform was set up by the Commission to monitor the implementation of the Coordinated Plan on AI, a joint initiative between the Commission and EU Member States. Its publication comes after the recent Commission AI Package, which included a review of the Coordinated Plan, as well as a proposal for a regulatory framework on AI. The implementation of the Coordinated Plan was also discussed during the webinar with the occasion of the AI Watch report’s publication.
Background
Together, OECD.AI and AI Watch provide a wealth of knowledge on trends in research and development, jobs and skills, and the latest AI news, as well as a repository of more than 650 AI policies and strategies from over 60 countries and the EU.
The webinar is part of the OECD’s and the European Commission’s joint efforts on global monitoring and analysis of Artificial Intelligence developments. The collaboration focuses on supplying accessible, consistent, and up-to-date information to stakeholders through the OECD AI Policy Observatory and the Commission’s knowledge service to monitor the development, uptake and impact of AI in Europe, AI Watch.