The AI Act vote passes in Parliament: it's 'a text we can work with' but a lot remains to be done

Hi, and welcome to yet another edition of the #WeeklyDEbrief !

This week has been a whirlwind, especially in terms of AI. The #AIAct was finally approved by the European Parliament on Wednesday and one could definitely say we are cautiously optimistic. We’re also in Stockholm to talk cybersecurity and to celebrate the close of the Swedish Presidency at the #DigitalAssembly23 .

What else did we get up to this week? Read below???

Spotlight ??

• ?? "A text we can work with": this week, the AI Act was officially adopted in Parliament and our Director-General had this to say ??

?? We will continue to follow the trilogues closely & ensure this legislation works for Europe's future AI innovators. Read more about our reaction here .

• ? Creating sandboxes, solving problems: speaking of our work on AI, we have recently published a paper where we asked future AI unicorns to evaluate the potential risks of the #AIAct . Read full report .

• ?? Towards legal clarity: companies require certainty around the framework of AI. That is the main takeaway from our Artificial Intelligence panel at our Summer Summit 23. What were the others? Watch here.
• ?? Leading on AI & data: Exciting news! Our Director-General Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl has just been elected to the GAIA-X Board of Directors.

Your to-do list ?

• ?? Messages to remember from Sweden: Our Director-General was at the Digital Assembly in Stockholm, dissecting how to boost European cybersecurity & push for innovation. She also met with two Swedish ministers: Erik Slottner (see here ), and Carl-Oskar Bohlin (see here ).

What you should note down:

1) Pick up the pace to reach our digital resilience goals: this was the main takeaway from the Digital Decade panel with Renate Nikolay .

2) Encourage public-private cooperation: how do we encourage SMEs to innovate? Here are the answers !

3) Move towards cybersecurity across borders: national focus alone cannot guarantee our safety. More points on what Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin , Yann Bonnet , Tara Wisniewski , and Miguel Gonzalez discussed here .

• ?? We need to talk about the #DPP : the Digital Product Passport, that is. During our roundtable in Strasbourg hosted by MEP Alessandra Moretti , we discussed the upcoming legislation & how we will all begin using it very soon to access product information. For a detailed account, head here .
• ?? Our green events to attend: if you are unsure about what to do next week, why not join our two panels during the European Sustainable Energy Week 2023 ?

?? If you are more interested in how to manage the European energy crisis, we recommend this panel :

?? You can also learn about SMEs and what we can do to help them through the energy transition by checking out this panel :

Register for both panels HERE .

Projects' corner ??

• ??New kid on the bloc: Prometheus-X has just received funding for building a Data Space for Education and Skills! Their goal: revolutionise education & employment together. So join their first ever event Bringers of Fire to connect with innovators in the field. If you're interested, register here .
• ????Call for twinnings! The #DigitalHealthUptake project is offering funding for personnel and travel costs, enabling your company to provide better digital health solutions. Interested? Apply here by September 1??3?? .
• ??Sustainability, skills & more: these were just a few of the topics that were discussed during the Data Space for Skills Advisory Board meeting. We were especially glad to have the former Finnish PM & Chair of the Board Esko Aho with us in our office. For a more detailed agenda, look here .

???And that's all for today! Wishing you a wonderful weekend & we'll see you next Friday for more tech highlights.

???In the meantime, make sure to follow us on Twitter and YouTube to never miss a news update on anything digital.