AI4EU: A European AI On Demand Platform and Ecosystem

BACKGROUND

To ensure European independence and leadership in AI, and to unite a fragmented community, the AI4EU project sought to build a comprehensive European AI-on-demand platform to lower barriers to innovation, to boost technology transfer and catalyse the growth of start-ups and SMEs in all sectors.

The challenge was to mobilise the broader AI Community to support and enrich the European AI-on-demand platform by sharing resources and success stories and using it as a tool to develop new research and innovations in AI.

The project aimed to develop an AI on-demand platform that would act as a broker and one-stop shop providing and showcasing services, expertise, algorithms, software frameworks, development tools, components, modules, data, computing resources, prototyping functions, and access to funding. Built upon and interoperable with existing AI and data components and platforms, AI4EU sought to mobilise the whole European AI ecosystem of researchers and innovators and showcase leading scientific discoveries and technological innovations in AI.

OUTCOME

Insight led the transformation of the platform in the direction of an open development model, facilitating the bootstrapping of the technical development by the AI research community. This model provided transparency in the development roadmap and opened the platform to respond to the needs of target stakeholders.

The AI-on-demand platform continues to represent a landmark initiative of the European Commission’s AI Research and Innovation Strategy. The AI4EU project developed the first iteration of the platform, and it continues to advance through the support of other funded projects, among them the €9m project AI4Europe, coordinated by Insight@UCC.

Through the work initiated in AI4EU, the platform is now positioned to transform into a community-led initiative enriched for and by the European AI community. Over the forthcoming years, the expectation is that the platform will come to represent a core pillar of the research and innovation community, allowing researchers to experiment and test new solutions and for SMEs and public bodies to easily access and exploit the very best in AI research being undertaken in Europe.

IMPACT

The project established a minimum viable product of the on-demand platform that can further be developed and exploited by both Europe’s AI research community and SME/Public bodies seeking to integrate AI solutions. It continues to be supported by the EC and multiple connected projects and initiatives.

Visit the AI4EU website.