AI watch, national strategies on artificial intelligence : a European perspective

In support of the Coordinated Plan on Artificial Intelligence, the European Commission has launched the AI Watch initiative, the European Commission knowledge service to monitor the development, uptake and impact of AI for Europe, implemented by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in close coordination with DG CONNECT. Monitoring and analysing national AI strategies is in the core of AI Watch's mandate and goals. This report gathers information on EU Member States' AI policies in unified form to: Provide a useful resource for Member States' policy makers to help them compare their strategy to those of other countries, and to identify areas for collaboration; Support, at the EU level, the monitoring of the implementation of the Coordinated Plan on Artificial Intelligence and provide input for its development. The first AI Watch report on national AI strategies presented the status of EU Member States' national AI strategies up to the date of its release in February 2020. The current report builds on the previous edition and presents an updated review of Member States' national AI strategies from March 2020 till June 2021. This report has been enriched with a more in-depth analysis on national AI strategies in the EU, highlighting similarities and differences in Member States' national policy approaches. This exercise allows identifying good practices and common strengths on which the EU can reinforce its position as a top AI player at global level. Second, this report is complemented with a dedicated section on AI policies to tackle societal challenges on sustainable climate and environment, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Lastly, the report now has a broader country coverage and also covers Associated Countries: Norway and Switzerland. The collection of AI policies is conducted jointly by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the OECD Science Technology and Innovation Directorate, while the analyses presented in this report are carried out by the JRC, with contributions from the OECD. Both institutions joined forces to ensure that the information supplied by AI Watch and the OECD AI Policy Observatory is harmonised, consistent and up to date. The EC-OECD database of national AI policies contains national AI strategies and AI-related policy initiatives from over 60 countries. This report is based on the EC-OECD database of national AI policies, validated by Member States' representatives.