The development of a safe and trustworthy European artificial intelligence is also at stake in Luxembourg.
One of the five units of the European Commission’s brand new Artificial Intelligence Office is located there. What is the role of the ‘AI and robotics excellence’ team?
To enable the development, deployment and use of artificial intelligence (AI) and encourage research and innovation in the field, while ensuring consistent implementation of the applicable regulation, the European Commission has set up its AI Office. It is composed of five units, each with its own specific area of expertise and action. And one of them, named ‘Unitof Excellence in AI and Robotics’,is based in Luxembourg, under the direction of Cécile Huet, who has worked for the Commission for more than 20 years.
The Luxembourg team consists of around 20 people, mainly engineers, but also humanities experts, economists, lawyers and financial assistants. The unit manages a portfolio of around 130 AI research, development and deployment projects, including under Horizon Europe, the main European Union (EU) funding programme for research and innovation. It also coordinates the GenAI4EUinitiative, which supports start-ups and SMEs active in Europe’s 14 industrial ecosystems – including robotics, health, production, mobility and climate.
Also to support the development of AI in Europe, Cécile Huet’s team supports project leaders, who benefit from the testing and experimentation facility (TEF) set up by the Commission and which started in January 2023. The initiative consists in offering testing infrastructures to developers, one of whom is located in Luxembourg, so that they can test their project in environments close to reality. FETs are offered in four sectors: agri-food, health, manufacturing, smart cities and communities. This represents a budget of EUR 220 million, 50% of which is financed by the Commission and the rest by the Member States concerned or the organisation itself.
The advantage of a unit based in Luxembourg
The Luxembourg unit has actually existed since 2004 and was at the time called the ‘cognitivesystems unit’. As technology evolved, it was then dedicated to intelligent robotics, and then designated as an AI unit. In 2018, another unit was set up for coordination and regulatory aspects. Now the unit responsible for excellence in AI and robotics, the Luxembourg team obviously works with the other units based in Brussels that make up the AI office.
They collaborate in the form of a task force on cross-cutting topics that concern several units, as the ultimate goal is to create a real ecosystem for AI actors, from research to the deployment of their solutions. Having part of the office in Luxembourg has a certain advantage, as it is also where the data unit, headed by Yvo Volman, is based.
This collaborative work also ensures a more effective implementation of the new AI Act. The office is in charge of implementing it, simplifying its understanding and informing the relevant stakeholders. Cécile Huet’s unit will focus on communication and simplification, as research is excluded from the rules.
The AI office will eventually employ more than 140 people and has high ambitions. One of its main objectives is to carry out projects that are increasingly important in terms of size and budget in order to have a greater impact on the market. With the €4 billion AI innovation package launched at the beginning of 2024, the Commission wants to scale up Europe’s capabilities to what is being done elsewhere, notably on the US side, to create 100% European models. This will involve making data computing capacity resources available through EuroHPC, a joint initiative of the EU, Member States and private partners to develop a world-class supercomputing ecosystem in Europe.