The European Commission has presented a new digital strategy. Termed 'tech sovereignty' in an op-ed piece published by Commission President Ursula van der Leyen in multiple newspapers, the policy aims to strengthen Europe's position in the global tech market by capitalising on its industrial data and setting the regulatory standards for new areas such as artificial intelligence.
The data strategy, billed as creating a 'data single market', will be led by the new internal market commissioner Thierry Breton. The aim is to unlock existing (non-personal) data held by Europe's companies, public institutions and citizens so it can be shared more for innovative applications. The European Commission will develop a regulatory framework to cover access and reuse of the data and develop incentives for sharing.
Additional support is planned for developing the infrastructure and technological systems needed to take advantage of the opportunities of the data economy, with EU financing for 'European High Impact' projects such as energy-efficient cloud infrastructure. Examples include making data centres and telecom networks 'climate neutral' by 2030. The funding would come from existing sources such as the Horizon R&D budget and Connecting Europe facility. Sector-specific action is also planned, to support 'European data spaces' in areas such as industrial manufacturing, climate change, mobility and health.
The Commission said it would also work to narrow the digital skills gap among Europeans, and explore how to give citizens better control over who can access their machine-generated data.
World leader in AI
The other main element of the new strategy presented by Von der Leyen is AI. Europe has "all it needs to become a world leader" in AI, given its strong research and industrial base, and the Commission will develop a regulatory framework to ensure new AI systems are safe and trustworthy and respect fundamental rights. The Commission said it wants the regulation focused on high-risk AI systems, in sensitive sectors as health, policing or transport, without putting too much of a burden on less-risky applications. The latter could benefit from a labeling scheme if they adopt set standards.
AI systems should be "transparent, traceable and guarantee human oversight", the Commission said. It wants authorities to be able to test and certify the data used by algorithms, the same as they do for other products such as cars, drugs or toys. At the same, Von der Leyen said she was ready to open the debate on facial recognition and whether it could be allowed for use more widely.
The AI policy starts with a white paper published by the Commission, which is open for comment by industry stakeholders until 19 May. The Commission is also gathering feedback for its data strategy, and this will be fleshed out further in the Digital Services Act planned for publication by year-end, as well as the upcoming European Democracy Action Plan, a review of the eIDAS regulation, and development of a Joint Cyber Unit in the EU.
