Following the recent success of AER’s event “Artificial Intelligence: Are Regions Up to The Challenge?” on Thursday 30 November, which brought together policy makers, stakeholders, academics, and entrepreneurs to discuss the policy implications of the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Projects Unit of the AER Secretariat is pleased to share with you some relevant information on funding opportunities matching this topic.

Funding Artificial Intelligence across the EU

A key point in the agenda of the said event was the presentation of Ms. Cécile Huet, European Commission’s Directorate‑General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT), who briefed the audience on funding opportunities under Horizon 2020 to exploit the technological possibilities of AI and robotics in multiple economic sectors as well as addressing its societal implications across Europe. The purpose of the European Commission is to develop the European AI on-demand platform joining forces all around Europe in order to materialize an ecosystem integrating knowledge, capacity and access to data, invest in R&D in areas where Europe can lead, and boost European industry competitiveness with AI while making European citizens benefit from the added value of this revolutionary technology across a wide range of sectors, such as ageing or transport.

Another remarkable aspect of the presentation of Ms. Huet was related to the Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs), which are particularly important for innovators and entrepreneurs due to the fact that they can provide, as one stop shops, with the resources that companies need to become more competitive in a desired area. DIHs also provide business and financial support to help implement different innovations, and facilitate access to the latest technology, expertise, and knowledge to help with the testing and experimentation of digital innovations. Calls related to DIHs are available under the Horizon 2020 programme for 2018 and 2019.

Description of the targeted call

Within the framework of Horizon 2020 –Research and Innovation Action– the call for proposal titled “European AI-on-demand platform” is intended to mobilise the European AI community to support businesses and sectors in accessing expertise, knowledge, algorithms and tools to successfully apply AI thereby generating market impact.

The aim of this AI platform is then to:

• Develop a European AI ecosystem as a collector of knowledge, algorithms, tools and resources available and making it a compelling solution for users, especially from non-tech sectors.
• Build on and link to existing relevant initiatives (existing platforms, data repositories, cloud computing, HPC,…)
• Facilitate the interaction with existing data portals, and resources in order to support interoperability.
• Connect and cooperate with other relevant activities of this work programme (DIHs, Pilot,…)

The call to fund up to €20 million on AI is already open for applications!

Save the deadline: April 17th 2018

Some other ideas…

Keen on robotics? Then you should check the call for proposal “Robotics – Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH)” within Horizon 2020 under the focus area “Digitising and transforming European industry and services (DT)” which basically aims to provide a sustainable ecosystem of robotics stakeholders covering the entire value network to facilitate and accelerate a broad uptake and integration of robotic technologies, and supporting the digitisation of industry through robotics. The deadline for applications is set on the 17th of April 2018.

As for the Horizon 2020 Project Development Week –which took place in Brussels between the 20th and the 24th of November, you can also find interesting project proposals linked to Artificial Intelligence and Digitalisation to join in a consortium:

• “Human and technology Reliability in Autonomous Systems”: The main goal is to develop a validated reliability analysis and predictive tool for organizations to assess the real-time reliability of human and technology operations in autonomous and semi-autonomous systems.

• “Disrupting for the Digital Future”: The city of Oulu (Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland) is committed to enhance digitalization of the city governance and public services in line with European and national objectives. One of the key goals in the city strategy is to ensure availability of digital city services in the level of 80 % by 2025.

• “Digital Workflows for Drone-based Inspection and Maintenance of Transportation Infrastructure“: Modern camera and sensor equipped drones  can collect valuable digital data about the condition of large critical infrastructures such as bridges, dams or power plants in an efficient, repeatable and high-quality way.

Eager to apply?

Regions are the first point of contact into the EU’s innovation ecosystem!

Should  you or your region be interested in any of the indicated calls, the AER Project Team would be very delighted to assist you in developing a successful and consistent proposal, building a consortium as well as going through the application process.

Do not miss out on the chance to apply for funding in this strategical and innovative sector of the future!

Contact

Photo credits: @visualhunt https://visualhunt.com/f2/photo/35180523113/811899303b/ & @unsplash https://unsplash.com/photos/w7ZyuGYNpRQ