AI & Big Data for Innovation Summit

The past decade has known a surge of breakthroughs in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Increased computer power, the availability of big data, as well as advances in research have led to ever more AI and big-data applications being used in all domains of our lives. Europe is well positioned to reap the benefits that those applications can bring, disposing of all necessary elements to generate beneficial innovation. AI and big data however also pose a number of risks, from hampering people’s fundamental rights such as privacy, autonomy or non-discrimination, to causing physical or other types of damage. Europe must therefore put in place the necessary safeguards to ensure that the technology’s risks are adequately addressed, and that European citizens remain protected. As the European Commission’s High-Level Expert Group on AI indicated, this not only requires a thorough evaluation – and potential adaptation – of our current regulatory frameworks but may also bring the need to introduce new regulation and governance mechanisms. It will be up to the new European legislature to ensure that the challenges raised by AI are adequately tackled, and that Europe will be able to flourish in the AI era.

The 1st AI & Big Data Innovation Summit organised by the Knowledge4Innovation Forum is taking place from 2 – 5 December in the European Parliament in Brussels. This is an outstanding opportunity to meet and discuss with newly elected MEPs and the new Commission (Commission President UVDL tbc) about the opportunity for Europe to become a global leader in AI and data driven innovations and how policy can support and if necessary, regulate AI and big data developments.

The programme covers topics around policy-making and regulation, the use of AI and data analytics to exploit open (research) data and a series of concrete examples of how AI & Big Data innovation will transform industries and society. A key target will be the use of data to make better decisions and predict outcomes/impact of policy measures and investments in R&I.

The European Commission President – elect, Ursula von der Leyen, has already stressed investment in AI would be one of her priorities.

"Data and AI are the ingredients for innovation that can help us to find solutions to societal challenges, from health to farming, from security to manufacturing," von der Leyen said in her agenda for Europe adding "In my first 100 days in office, I will put forward legislation for a coordinated European approach on the human and ethical implications of artificial intelligence".

Maria da Graça Carvalho

EPP
Portugal

Tom Berendsen

EPP
The Netherlands

Mohammed Chahim

S&D
The Netherlands

Ivars Ijabs

Renew
Latvia

Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou

EPP
Greece

Susana Solís Pérez

Renew
Spain

Marisa Matias

GUE/NGL
Portugal

Andreas Klossek

Interim CEO; COO; Managing Director
EIT RawMaterials

Willem Jonker

CEO
EIT Digital

Per Brännman

Deputy Mine Manager at LKAB in Kiruna
LKAB

Michael Haschke

DMT Manager R&D
EurGeol

Andreas Brosig

Beak Consultants; GmbH

Susanne Feiel

Head of Resources Innovation Center; RIC Leoben
Montanuniversitaet Leoben

Peter Moser

Head of the Chair of Mining Engineering and Mineral Economics Vice Rector für Infrastructure and International Relations
University of Leoben

Nathalie Smuha

Assistant lecturer and Researcher FWO Fellowship
KU Leuven

Holger Hoos

Chair of the Board of Directors; Professor of Machine Learning; CLAIRE; Leiden University
CLAIRE / Leiden University

Ansgar Koene

Global AI Ethics and Regulatory Leader
EY

Mary Carol Madigan

Strategy Expert; Machine Learning
SAP

Dave King

Founder and CEO
Exaptive; Inc

Michelle Zucker

Director Community Activation
EIT Climate-KIC

Babette Bakker

Program Manager
TNO Appl.AI

Andreas Liebl

Managing Director and Head of appliedAI Initiative
UnternehmerTUM Projekt GmbH

Pekka Sivonen

Executive Director
Digital Transformation

Ulla Engelmann

Head of Unit for Advanced Technologies; Clusters; and Social Economy
DG GROW; European Commission

Markku Kutvonen

Co-Creation Manager
VTT (FCAI)

Jeanette Nilsson

AI Ecosystem Driver
RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

Anne-Marie Sassen

Deputy Head of the Technologies and Systems for Digitising Industry unit
DG GROW; European Commission

Iarla Kilbane-Dawe

UK Government Office for Artificial Intelligence
UK Government

Roberto Viola

Director General
DG Connect European Commission

Ronald van ’t Klooster

Senior R&D Engineer / Project Leader
Quantib B.V.

Catholijn Jonker

Full Professor; Faculty of Electrical Engineering; Mathematics and Computer Sciences; Department of Intelligent Systems
TU Delft

Jens Kober

Assistant Professor
Cognitive Robotics department; TU Delft

Geert-Jan Houben

Full Professor; Faculty of Engineering; Mathematics and Computer Science; Department of Software Technology
TU Delft

Filippo Santoni de Sio

Assistant Professor; Policy and Management; Department of Values; Technologies and Innovation
TU Delft

Jara Pascual

Founder and CEO
Collabwith

Marie-Elisabeth Rusling

CEO
Business Angels Europe

Roland Strauss

Managing Director
Knowledge4Innovation

Carlos Lee

Director General
EPIC – European Photonics Industry Consortium

Gabriel Crean

Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg on Innovation and Industrial Policy

Lucilla Sioli

Director Artificial Intelligence and Digital Industry
DG Connect; European Commission

Thomas Hahn

President
BDVA

Bernd Liepert

President; euRobotics

Asunción Gómez-Pérez

Vice-Rector for Research; Innovation and Doctoral Studies; Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences; Full Professor
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

Ana-Maria Stancu

euRobotics Board Member; CEO
Bucharest Promo Robots; e-Civis

Frans Nauta

National Lead Security; Netherlands AI Coalition Program Director; Data Science Initiative
Municipality of The Hague

Kate Dodgson

Program manager; Data Science Initiative
Municipality of The Hague

Pierre Barthélemy

Executive Director Innovation
Cefic

Thierry Cartage

Industrial Function; Process Performance & Digital Director Solvay
Solvay

Valentina Colla

Coordinator of Center ICT for Complex Industrial Systems and Processes
University SSSA Pisa

Tejs Vegge

Professor; Head of Section
Technical University of Denmark

Pierre Joris

President
A.SPIRE; DOMO CHEMICALS