10th April 2018
Minister for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection, Mr Pat Breen TD, will today (Tuesday April 10) attend EU Digital Day 2018 where he will sign a number of political Declarations, including one on Artificial Intelligence (AI).
This one-day event in Brussels is organised by the European Commission and will bring together high-level stakeholders in the fields of digital technology and telecommunication with the aim of putting Europe’s digital future in the spotlight.
The purpose of Digital Day is to facilitate discussion on priority issues on the digital agenda. The event is structured around initiatives to reach joint commitments related to the digital future of Europe in order to encourage investment in European digital technologies and infrastructures.
Minister Breen stated, “Ireland’s engagement at the forefront of initiatives at EU level to progress the digital transformation agenda is essential if we are to maximise the benefits arising from technological developments. Through our long-term Enterprise Strategy, Enterprise 2025, we have committed to developing an ambitious vision and strategy for Ireland’s digital economy, that will drive a coordinated, cross-government approach to deliver on a range of inter-related policies, encompassing International and EU developments and developments at both the business environmental level and firm level.”
At the event, Minister Breen will sign up to political Declarations on Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and Innovation Radar on behalf of Ireland. These Declarations set out areas where agreement was reached by Member States for future cooperation. Minister Breen will also participate in the Digital Day session on Artificial Intelligence.
Minister Breen stated, “Ireland already has a burgeoning Artificial Intelligence ecosystem driven by a cohort of technological multinational and indigenous SMEs and supported by our third level sector. We are putting further support measures in place to support this industry base.”
The Government recently announced revised ICT Research Priority Areas for 2018-2023, which have been broadened to include Robotics, Artificial Intelligence (including Machine Learning), Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality.
ENDS
For more information please contact: press.office@dbei.gov.ie or Ph. (01) 6312200
Note to Editors
Digital Day
Digital Day 2018 will take place in Brussels on 10th April 2018. This one-day event will bring together high-level stakeholders in the fields of digital technology and telecommunication. The event is organised by the European Commission under the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The Digital Day session on Artificial Intelligence will address three broad areas:
- boosting Europe's technology and industrial capacity in AI and its uptake across all Member States and the whole economy;
- tackling socio-economic implications, including the impact on the labour markets;
- addressing new ethical and legal issues, including safety, liability, security, privacy, intellectual property, transparency, access to data, and undistorted competition.
This session will facilitate Member States, key stakeholders and the Commission to together engage in a strategic dialogue on AI and to discuss how to harness the many opportunities of this technology. As such it will be a valuable forum in advance of the publication of a comprehensive European initiative on Artificial Intelligence in due later in April 2018.
Digital Single Market Strategy
Measures that have already been agreed and implemented by EU Member States and concluded under the EU’s Digital Single Market Strategy, include:
- Wholesale Roaming Regulation (‘Roam like at Home’ took effect on 15 June),
- Wifi4EU (EU funded free wifi in public spaces),
- Portability of Online Content (allows people to avail of digital subscriptions while temporarily abroad within the EU e.g. Netflix)
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