Has Europe lost the AI race? 2022 revision

In mid-2018, I asked in a blog post, “Has Europe lost the AI race?” (1). My answer then: not yet, but we need to do more.

How does it look today, in early 2022?

To be upfront: A lot has happened in Europe and Germany. But not enough.

Let’s look at some details.

As of June 2021, 20 EU countries and Switzerland had developed and adopted a national AI strategy. Another 7 countries were in the process to finalize a strategy. Some countries like Germany or Finland have already revised their strategy. Many national initiatives have been started, a detailed overview can be found in the OECD report “National strategies on Artificial Intelligence – a European Perspective” (2)

The importance of AI for the economy and society has thus been recognized in Europe in recent years, and many initiatives have been launched. These are very positive developments.

However, compared to the leading countries, this is not enough. A look at various international comparisons shows this.

The Center for Data Innovation published the 2021 Update of the report “Who Is Winning the AI Race: China, the EU, or the United States?” (3). The report examines the progress China, the European Union, and the United States have made in AI relative to each other in recent years – using 31 metrics across 6 categories (talent, research, enterprise development, adoption, data, and hardware).

It finds that the United States still leads, with 44.6 points, followed by China with 32.0 and the European Union with 23.3.

Looking at the details we see can more momentum in China and the US compared to Europe.

Crucially, China has made incremental progress—reducing the gap or extending its lead over the United States in more than half of the updated metrics. In contrast, the EU has made progress relative to the United States in only slightly more than a quarter of the updated metrics. As such, the United States has maintained or expanded its lead over the European Union in nearly 75 percent of the updated metrics.

Let’s look at another comparison. The Global AI Index (4) was updated in 2021 and shows a similar picture. The Global AI Index is underpinned by 143 indicators split across seven sub-pillars: Talent, Infrastructure, Operating Environment, Research, Development, Government Strategy and Commercial. Each indicator pillar was weighted for importance after consultation with experts across the field.