The European Commission and the newly established AI, Data and Robotics Association (Adra) sign a public-private partnership to jointly invest 2.6 Billion Euro

“Artificial intelligence, data and robotics are at the core of the ongoing digital transformation of Europe. This transformation will have a profound impact on European businesses as well as European science; it will touch upon all parts of society and all parts of our lives. Adra will become a strong lens and amplifier for Europe’s digital economy, and an opportunity for its partners to contribute to an important and beneficial development for all of Europe and all Europeans.” – Morten Irgens – CLAIRE Co-founder and Director of Innovation, as well as newly elected Vice President of Adra.

On 23 June 2021, the European Commission and the newly established AI, Data and Robotics Association (Adra) signed a Memorandum of Understanding that establishes the co-programmed partnership that will serve as the European focal point for AI, Data and Robotics. The partnership leverages 1.3B Eur of public investments through the Horizon Europe programme, complemented with 1.3B Eur of private investments in the period 2021-2030 to address the key challenges in European AI, Data and Robotics.

Adra was founded on 21 May 2021 by three AI associations: CLAIRE, the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) and the European Association for Artificial Intelligence (EurAI), together with the Big Data Value Association (BDVA) and the European Robotics Association (euRobotics). These 5 European associations previously collaborated on the preparatory Joint Strategic Research Innovation and Deployment Agenda (SRIDA) that was released in September 2020. CLAIRE has played an important role in the negotiations that led to the creation of Adra, and will retain a leading role in the organisation, as reflected by the election of Morten Irgens as vice-president of the newly formed association.

To ensure the success of Adra and the partnership, CLAIRE will promote a focus on openness and inclusiveness, which are also at the core of the values pursued by the CLAIRE community since its inception in 2018. A broad and balanced dialogue is essential for bringing together all facets of the European innovation ecosystem and to fully exploit the European strengths and unique selling points of European AI, Data and Robotics technology. We will keep you posted on the developments and opportunities in the context of Adra.