{"id":45261,"date":"2022-01-17T11:09:23","date_gmt":"2022-01-17T10:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.i-com.it\/2022\/01\/17\/eu-position-in-the-ai-global-race\/"},"modified":"2023-05-13T22:36:04","modified_gmt":"2023-05-13T20:36:04","slug":"eu-position-in-the-ai-global-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.i-com.it\/en\/2022\/01\/17\/eu-position-in-the-ai-global-race\/","title":{"rendered":"The EU position in the AI Global Race and the situation in the Member States"},"content":{"rendered":"

The interest in AI has grown dramatically in Europe. According to some estimates<\/a>, the European AI software market alone should see a significant growth in the coming years, with revenues increasing from around US$ 2.09 billion in 2018 to an expected US$ 26.5 by 2025.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the European Union has become one of the most important AI players in the world, together with the United States and China. All three countries have adopted strategies for the development, implementation and regulation of AI. In Europe, the EU Commission has promoted an approach that is dubbed as \u201cethical and trustworthy AI\u201d, fostering cooperation between the public and private sectors, as well as ensuring a set of key values (e.g., transparency, accuracy, robustness and non-discrimination).<\/p>\n

A COMPARISON OF AI DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA, THE US, AND THE EU<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, in comparing the EU to China and US, a pattern of a clear competitive disadvantage seems to emerge. This especially concerns the gap in the overall amount of investments made, the main reason for Europe lagging behind. According to Stanford University estimates<\/a>, in 2020, the US continued to hold a dominant position in private AI investment, with US companies investing $23.6 billion in AI, compared to China\u2019s $9.9 billion. Instead, the level of European private investments was seen to be much lower, amounting to only $2 billion.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the US and China account for most of the AI start-up investments<\/a>. Together, the US and China made up over 80% of the monetary value of VC investments in AI start-ups, while the EU-27 represented almost 5% Only the UK start-ups represented a little more than 4% of the total value.<\/p>\n

Thus, it is clear that the EU is lagging behind, and this gap is also seen in the field of AI research<\/a>. For example, in terms of patents, the EU-27 with about 3,000 AI patents registered in 2021 ranks after the US with almost four times as many patents registered.<\/p>\n

I-COM 2021 INDEX ON AI DEVELOPMENT IN THE EU COUNTRIES<\/strong><\/p>\n

Analysing the situation at the level of individual Member States, substantial differences can be found, with some countries even managing to keep pace at international level, while others appear to be unwilling to fully adopt AI. This situation certainly does not favour the UE\u2019s position in competing in the global race for AI.<\/p>\n

In order to provide an idea of the degree of AI development in European countries, I-Com has developed a new index, presented during the I-Com Symposium \u201cEU\u2019s Path to Competitiveness. How Digital, Energy and Health can L.ead the Way Forward<\/a>\u201d.\u00a0 This index takes into account some variables relating to the industrial and research AI ecosystem in the various Member States as well as the level of the adoption of some AI technologies. These include:<\/p>\n