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AI Watch
Report

AI Watch: 2020 EU AI investments

Details

Publication date
27 September 2021
Author
Joint Research Centre
Topic area
AI landscape

Description

The latest AI Watch report “AI Watch: 2020 EU AI investments”, is the only existing attempt to estimate economy-wide AI investments and monitor them consistently over time. This is key in monitoring of the implementation of the Coordinated Plan on Artificial Intelligence, and especially the progress toward the € 20 billion annual investment target to be reached by 2030.

Results show that in 2019, the EU invested between €7.9 and €9 billion in AI, which corresponds to 40-45% of the annual investment target. The report also estimates that, compared to 2018, EU AI investments increased by €2.1-2.5 billion and that, if the EU maintains a similar level of growth, by 2025 AI investments will reach € 22.4 billion and surpass the € 20 billion target by over 10%.

The approach taken in this report attempts to include all relevant investment types and actors contributing to the AI-driven revolution. To do so, this methodology:

  • considers AI as a general-purpose technology assuming that, to trigger the wave of AI-driven innovation, we need to combine support and funding of AI technological development with its translation into new business models and processes
  • goes beyond direct investments in the development and adoption of AI technologies, considering also investment in complementary assets and capabilities such as skills, data, product design and organisational capital
  • groups AI-related investments into four investment targetsSkills, R&D, Data and equipment and Intangible assets.

Details on JRC Publications Repository

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29 SEPTEMBER 2021
AI Watch: 2020 EU AI investments
English
(1.78 MB - PDF)
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