Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Adra-e (AI, Data and Robotics ecosystem)
Reporting period: 2022-07-01 to 2023-12-31
The overall objective for Adra-e is to support the ADR partnership in its full breadth. These include:
• Adra, as private side of the partnership
• The European Commission as public side of the partnership
• The larger ADR stakeholder community that is impacted by the partnership, notably the projects that are funded by the partnership, but also national (and regional) ADR initiatives and other related European initiatives (e.g. TEFs, NoEs etc).
The analysis made when preparing the proposal (submitted Oct 2021) was that the success of the partnership is critical for Europe, yet it is also a highly ambitious endeavor due to the holistic nature of ADR, and the fragmentation that exists between the involved stakeholder communities (AI, Data, and Robotics communities as well as industry and research). At the same time, the (diverse) communities that exist are valuable. They facilitate diverse viewpoints and priorities to emerge, which makes the European ADR ecosystem more complete, representative, and robust.
In close collaboration with representatives of the Adra Board of Directors, Adra-e was setup around the premises that this diversity is to be nurtured, but that bridges are to be built for an effective dialogue and action plan on European level. Assuring this balance and representation is therefore at the core of Adra-e (occasionally at the price of effectiveness). The Adra-e consortium includes partners from all stakeholder communities, and the coordinator is explicitly tasked to warrant balance for the activities undertaken by the project.
While the objective of Adra, and Adra-e is to create the conditions for an inclusive, sustainable, effective, multi-layered, and coherent European ADR ecosystem, there are challenges to overcome, including:
• Cultural differences, and different levels of maturity between stakeholder communities
• Interdependencies that exist between ADR topics (e.g. regulation, standardization, education, awareness)
• Breadth of the ADR ecosystem including nearly all industry sectors, and societal challenges
• Levels of granularity of the ADR ecosystem including regional, national and European and global dimensions.
The complexity of addressing these challenges is in the interdependencies that exist between them. Adra-e adopts a holistic approach to advance upon these by stimulating exchange between topic/domain experts organized in work packages through convergence events, recommendations to the SRIDA and the Adra-e web platform.
Adra-e counts 5 work-packages (WP1 – WP5) that are structured around important topics for the ADR partnership, and 2 operational work packages (WP6 – WP7) that support the project.
• Adra, as private side of the partnership
• The European Commission as public side of the partnership
• The larger ADR stakeholder community that is impacted by the partnership, notably the projects that are funded by the partnership, but also national (and regional) ADR initiatives and other related European initiatives (e.g. TEFs, NoEs etc).
The analysis made when preparing the proposal (submitted Oct 2021) was that the success of the partnership is critical for Europe, yet it is also a highly ambitious endeavor due to the holistic nature of ADR, and the fragmentation that exists between the involved stakeholder communities (AI, Data, and Robotics communities as well as industry and research). At the same time, the (diverse) communities that exist are valuable. They facilitate diverse viewpoints and priorities to emerge, which makes the European ADR ecosystem more complete, representative, and robust.
In close collaboration with representatives of the Adra Board of Directors, Adra-e was setup around the premises that this diversity is to be nurtured, but that bridges are to be built for an effective dialogue and action plan on European level. Assuring this balance and representation is therefore at the core of Adra-e (occasionally at the price of effectiveness). The Adra-e consortium includes partners from all stakeholder communities, and the coordinator is explicitly tasked to warrant balance for the activities undertaken by the project.
While the objective of Adra, and Adra-e is to create the conditions for an inclusive, sustainable, effective, multi-layered, and coherent European ADR ecosystem, there are challenges to overcome, including:
• Cultural differences, and different levels of maturity between stakeholder communities
• Interdependencies that exist between ADR topics (e.g. regulation, standardization, education, awareness)
• Breadth of the ADR ecosystem including nearly all industry sectors, and societal challenges
• Levels of granularity of the ADR ecosystem including regional, national and European and global dimensions.
The complexity of addressing these challenges is in the interdependencies that exist between them. Adra-e adopts a holistic approach to advance upon these by stimulating exchange between topic/domain experts organized in work packages through convergence events, recommendations to the SRIDA and the Adra-e web platform.
Adra-e counts 5 work-packages (WP1 – WP5) that are structured around important topics for the ADR partnership, and 2 operational work packages (WP6 – WP7) that support the project.
The main achievements of the first 18 months of the project are in line with the project objectives and include:
• WP1: Organization of events to support the ADR community including 5 cross-community Workshops, a Launch Event for the 42 newly started Horizon Europe projects, the first ADR Forum, as well as support to the development of the Strategic Research, Innovation, and Deployment Agenda (SRIDA).
• WP2: Development of the initial ecosystem mapping study, creation of the ADR Joint Task Force, co-design of the cross-project workshop series, development and integration of the light-weight ADR Exhibition concept to the Convergence Summit and ADR Forum.
• WP3: Development, launch, and promotion of the ADR Awareness Centre; Methodology and selection of the AI Trust label, Organization of the first Awareness Day.
• WP4: Development of the European Convergence Summit methodology, identification of the Regional Ecosystem Cartography, Procurement impact assessment and Workshop on Digital Procurement and Procurement Clauses of AI at the ADR Forum.
• WP5: Active collaboration between EUOS Observatory and Adra-e, creation of the European Standardization Expert Group on ADR, production of first pre-standardization contents, liaison established between CEN/CENELEC JTC21 and Adra-e.
• WP6: Event organization for above WPs including the ADR Forum (WP1) and Awareness Day (WP3) Production of 16 newsletters and 15 videos, surpassed KPIs on social media, Awareness Centre on website, support to Adra communication and website management.
• WP7: Online workspace and mailing lists to ensure successful day to day collaboration, project collaboration thanks to monthly WP and task leader meetings, physical General Assembly every 6 months, participation by the Adra-e coordinator to the Adra BoD, set-up and first meeting of the Adra-e Advisory Board and Reference Committee.
• WP1: Organization of events to support the ADR community including 5 cross-community Workshops, a Launch Event for the 42 newly started Horizon Europe projects, the first ADR Forum, as well as support to the development of the Strategic Research, Innovation, and Deployment Agenda (SRIDA).
• WP2: Development of the initial ecosystem mapping study, creation of the ADR Joint Task Force, co-design of the cross-project workshop series, development and integration of the light-weight ADR Exhibition concept to the Convergence Summit and ADR Forum.
• WP3: Development, launch, and promotion of the ADR Awareness Centre; Methodology and selection of the AI Trust label, Organization of the first Awareness Day.
• WP4: Development of the European Convergence Summit methodology, identification of the Regional Ecosystem Cartography, Procurement impact assessment and Workshop on Digital Procurement and Procurement Clauses of AI at the ADR Forum.
• WP5: Active collaboration between EUOS Observatory and Adra-e, creation of the European Standardization Expert Group on ADR, production of first pre-standardization contents, liaison established between CEN/CENELEC JTC21 and Adra-e.
• WP6: Event organization for above WPs including the ADR Forum (WP1) and Awareness Day (WP3) Production of 16 newsletters and 15 videos, surpassed KPIs on social media, Awareness Centre on website, support to Adra communication and website management.
• WP7: Online workspace and mailing lists to ensure successful day to day collaboration, project collaboration thanks to monthly WP and task leader meetings, physical General Assembly every 6 months, participation by the Adra-e coordinator to the Adra BoD, set-up and first meeting of the Adra-e Advisory Board and Reference Committee.
As Adra-e is a Coordination & Support Action (CSA) and not a Research & Innovation project, Adra-e does not actively contribute to the current technological state of the art in the ADR research Community. Through its close collaboration with Adra Board of Directors and the European Commission, Adra-e will contribute to European sovereignty of AI, Data and Robotics technologies and knowhow, establish European leadership, and reinforce a strong and global competitive position of Europe in ADR. The main developments of Adra-e to maximize impact of EU investments in ADR include : a) development of services such as the Awareness Centre, ADR Standards observatory and AI Trust label; b) focused network gatherings such as the European Convergence Summits, Awareness days, and cross-community workshops; c) support to Adra in providing actionable recommendations for the SRIDA; and d) creating a reference website with tools and services to support the ADR community.