Keep an AI on France #1: Overview

Mar 1, 2019 | Invest in France

AI is rapidly growing and has become a priority for many countries. Through different governmental programmes and private investments, Nordic countries and France are important actors of the AI race for innovation. This explains why we want to engage in a conversation on AI. We are going to tackle, in several articles, the different aspects of AI that are close to Nordics and French interests. Nonetheless, it seemed important to kick off this series by giving basic knowledge grounds.

AI is made a priority for Sweden

The idea of this serie was born with the opening, on the 6th of February, of the AI INNOVATION centre located in Gothenburg (Sweden). The aim of this centre is to bring closer together the different actors of the Swedish AI ecosystem. Ideas, data, expertise and resources will be more easily shared to bring AI even further. Sweden is committed to the AI transformation. Indeed, the Swedish government had commissioned to Vinnova a report upon which they articulated a national programme integrated within the digital strategy. Nonetheless, it is important to outline that Sweden, just like other Nordic countries, wishes to get into partnerships with other European countries.

France, a key European actor for AI

France could be an interesting source of partnership for Nordic countries. France is ranked 3rd globally in terms of AI production behind China and the United States. Like in Sweden, a national programme called “AI for humanity” has been launched following the publication of the Villani report. The French government and private partners have decided to allocate €1,5 billion to AI. A part of this fund is used to increase research but also improve AI education. For example, 40 new university chairs are going to open in 2019, allowing the number of PhD student of the field to double. Another part of this fund will be dedicated to improve the partnerships between research labs and the private sector. These partnerships are necessary to make sure that researches are being turned into commercial and entrepreneurial use. Indeed, to this day, France counts 80 SMEs, 270 start-ups and 286 research institutes specialised in AI.

AI start-ups ecosystem in France

Hub France IA, the French version of AI Innovation of Sweden in Gothenburg

The new AI centre of Gothenburg appears to resemble to the French one called Hub France IA. These centres share identical goals but also similar values when it comes down to guaranteeing an ethical AI environment. Additionally, Hub France IA mentions the desire and the ambition to enter in deeper collaboration with European partners. It is thus easy to imagine that such collaboration could grow between France and Sweden in the near future.