Recording of the webinar
About
This joint online webinar held on 22 June 2021 is part of the OECD’s and the European Commission’s (EC) 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.
Together, OECD.AI and AI Watch provided 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.
In this context, the webinar introduced the updated AI Watch "National Strategies on Artificial Intelligence: A European Perspective" report and the OECD 'State of Implementation of the OECD AI Principles: Insights from National AI Policies' report on national AI policies. It also presented the new initiatives and features on the EC-OECD database of national AI strategies and policies.
The AI Watch "National Strategies on Artificial Intelligence: A European Perspective" report provides comprehensive information on EU Member States, Norway and Switzerland’s national AI strategies. It aims to help Member States to learn from each other’s policy initiatives and to identify synergies and collaboration opportunities, and will also be available on the OECD AI Policy Observatory.
The OECD “State of Implementation of the OECD AI Principles: Insights from National AI Policies” report looks at how countries are implementing the five recommendations to governments contained in the OECD AI Principles and examines emerging trends on AI policy. The report was drafted based on the input of the OECD AI Network of Experts (ONE AI) working group of Policies for AI and the EC-OECD database of national AI strategies and policies.
On 21 April 2021, the EC came forward with its “AI package”, a key milestone in the implementation of the EU’s vision to create an ecosystem of excellence and an ecosystem of trust for AI. It includes the 2021 review of the Coordinated Plan on AI and a horizontal legislative proposal on AI.
Objectives
In this webinar attendees:
- Gained information about emerging trends in AI policy across EU countries in the context of building ecosystems of excellence and trust in AI
- Discovered stakeholders’ views on the role of national AI policies in the development and uptake of trustworthy AI as well as on the opportunities and benefits of enhancing collaboration
- Learned about the work of the European Commission and the OECD to monitor and analyse national AI policies
Agenda
- 14:00 Welcome
- 14:30 EC-OECD monitoring of AI developments
- 14:45 European approach to AI - the Coordinated plan on AI
- 14:55 How is Europe shaping excellence and trust in AI?
- 16:10 How can stakeholders engage with national AI strategies and support the development of a wider AI ecosystem in Europe?
- 17:15 Wrap-up / conclusions
14:00 Welcome
- Andrew Wyckoff, Director of the Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) of the OECD
- Mikel Landabaso, Director of the Directorate for Growth and Innovation at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission
- Lucilla Sioli, Director of the Directorate Artificial Intelligence and Digital Industry of the Directorate General of Communication, Networks, Content and Technology at the European Commission
14:30 EC-OECD monitoring of AI developments
- Karine Perset, Administrator of the OECD’s AI Policy Observatory, ►Download the presentation
- Paul Desruelle, Senior Expert, Leader of the AI Watch project, JRC Digital Economy Unit, ►Download the presentation
14:45 European approach to AI - the Coordinated plan on AI
- Kilian Gross, Head of Artificial Intelligence Policy Development and Coordination Unit of the European Commission, DG Connect, ►Download the presentation
14:55 How is Europe shaping excellence and trust in AI?
Moderator: Vincent Van Roy, Digital Economy Unit, European Commission
Member State representatives and a representative from the European Commission discussed national AI policy strategies and emerging trends in different EU countries. They identified opportunities and challenges in implementing and monitoring national AI policies in the context of the European Commission’s AI package. The discussion addressed the following questions:
- The current state of implementation of AI policies in EU countries: what are the main directions and trends in AI strategies?
- How do regional and global AI policy efforts contribute to tackling societal challenges such as the COVID-19 crisis and climate change?
- How does cooperation help to enhance Europe’s strength on the international AI arena?
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Speakers:
- Cécile Huet, Deputy Head of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Excellence unit of the European Commission, ►Download the presentation
- Lars Bønløkke Lê, Head of Digital Responsible Growth at the Danish Business Authority, ►Download the presentation
- Andreas Hartl, Head of Division Strategy Artificial Intelligence, Data Economy, Blockchain at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy,
- Jana Novohradska, Ministry of Investments, Regional Development and Informatization of the Slovak Republic, ►Download the presentation
- András Hlács, Counsellor at the Permanent Delegation of Hungary to the OECD and UNESCO and Co-Chair of the OECD Network of Experts on AI working group on policies for AI,►Download the presentation
16:00 Break
16:10 How can stakeholders engage with national AI strategies
and support the development of a wider AI ecosystem in Europe?
Moderator: Laura Galindo-Romero, OECD AI Policy Observatory AI Policy Analyst.
This session invited stakeholders from the private sector, civil society and academia to share their insights on how national AI policies facilitate the development and uptake of AI. It also aimed at finding ways in which different groups of stakeholders could actively contribute to national AI policy making and support the implementation of national AI policies, which would in turn encourage them to develop, deploy and use trustworthy AI in Europe. In particular, the session paved the way for a discussion on:
- How to create vibrant and competitive AI ecosystems to foster AI diffusion, particularly among SMEs?
- How to promote social open dialogue to encourage cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary collaborative efforts in AI?
- How to enhance collaboration between the private sector, NGOs and academia to build human capacity on AI?
- How to foster public-private partnerships to address ambitious opportunities and challenges of AI?
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Speakers:
- Ana Garcia Robles, Secretary General of the Big Data Value Association (BDVA), ►Download the presentation
- Cornelia Kutterer, Senior Director European Government Affairs, Rule of Law & Responsible Tech at Microsoft, ►Download the presentation
- Milly Doolan, Managing Director at EuroNavigator,
- Emilia Tantar, Chief Data and AI Officer at Black Swan LUX, ►Download the presentation
- Nathanaël Ackerman, AI4Belgium Lead, ►Download the presentation
- Barry O’Sullivan, Chair of Constraint Programming, School of Computer Science & IT - University College Cork, Founding director of the Insight Centre for Data Analytics, ►Download the presentation
17:15 Wrap-up / conclusions
- Audrey Plonk, Head of OECD Division for Digital Economy Policy,
- Juha Heikkilä, Head of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Excellence unit of the European Commission
- Carlos Torrecilla, Head of Digital Economy Unit at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission
Organisers
The webinar was hosted by the by the European Commission’s Directorate General Connect (DG Connect) and the Directorate General Joint Research Centre (DG JRC) and OECD AI Policy Observatory team within the OECD’s digital economy policy division.