Stepping into the future

Successful online event on Artificial Intelligence in Europe

Innovations, training options and the European approach to Artificial Intelligence (AI) were in the focus of the one-hour webinar “EIT Artificial Intelligence for Europe: Results and future steps”. Members of the EIT AI initiative – a joint project by EIT Digital, EIT Health, EIT Food, EIT Manufacturing, EIT Climate-KIC and EIT InnoEnergy – informed the audience about first project results and future steps.

The role of AI in Europe and the EIT Community

How to build an ecosystem of excellence and trust towards AI made in Europe as well as an overview of the EIT Community were the topics of Federico Menna, Head of Staff & Operations, and Orestis Trasanidis, EIT AI Coordinator, at EIT Digital. The two spoke about ways in which AI is changing Europe and how the different knowledge and innovation communities of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology are set on supporting companies in making use of AI.

Tommaso Emiliani, EIT Strategic Synergies Cluster Manager at EIT Food, informed about this new cluster for 2022, which helps partners to identify collaboration and funding opportunities from the EIT community. Besides “Artificial Intelligence for Europe”, the three additional activities “New European Bauhaus”, “Circular Economy Collaboration” and “Women Entrepreneurship” are part of the cluster. They reflect the EU objectives of transformation, sustainability, and improvements for EU citizens.

Find out your AI readiness level!

Adrian Bablok, Project Manager at EIT Manufacturing, presented the AI Maturity Tool, which helps organisations to assess their readiness for the use of AI. Based on a questionnaire, the tool creates a graph, which displays their AI maturity in six dimensions and helps them to identify development targets. The free-of-charge self-assessment tool is available in seven languages.

Future steps with the AI Maturity Tool include analysing the results and intensifying the common understanding of AI readiness throughout Europe. This will be achieved, among other things, with workshops that can be booked by companies every size and by offering on-site ideation sessions that involve the right people from day one.

AI talent development

A database of more than 900 courses related to AI – that’s the impressive number of courses included in the AI Networks Map. Dr. Magí Lluch-Ariet, Data Manager and Analyst at EIT Health, and Marcus Chiri, Data Architect at EIT Climate-KIC, informed about the development and usage of the intuitively designed tool, which is focusing on the connection of offered AI courses and the needed skills for professional roles in this area. An analysis of the data showed that there is a strong training offer in Europe for technical roles, but there are also gaps in some sectors, that need more attention. The team also noticed a gap in the offering for the last stages in the AI project pipeline. As next steps, the team will focus on a dashboard for data analysis, continuous database updates, and improved network visualization.

Connecting people and courses

Dr. Inge de Waard, Senior Learning Strategist & Innovator at EIT InnoEnergy, presented the advantages of the AI Skills for Professionals tool, which helps find, cluster and compare AI skills and enhances matching of people and courses. By uploading a CV, the tool can identify a person’s skills profile and suggests specific AI jobs they are best suited for. Furthermore, it suggests a list of courses that can help them acquire the skills needed for those particular jobs.

Watch the recording of the webinar which was held 23 February 2022.