The Italian Embassy in London organised a public event entitled “Italy4Innovation”, the London stop of the Italian diplomatic mission’s presentation on artificial intelligence coordinated by the Ministry of Economic Development (MISE). The Italian mission’s choice of the British capital was unavoidable, as the United Kingdom is the European Country most advanced in the research, development and application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, second only to the USA and China. London is in fact the seat of the prestigious Alan Turing Institute, a centre spearheading research into AI, and of some of the sector’s most important businesses at global level.
The aim of the Italian mission was twofold. On the one hand, acquire information on the United Kingdom’s strategy in the field of AI and the strengths of this ecosystem, and especially its public support policies. On the other hand, to present the points of excellence in our research and of the Italian companies operating in the field of artificial intelligence. The Italian team, with the assistance of the Embassy, had a number of meetings, including with the Alan Turing Institute, Imperial College, the Office for AI (the UK’s public agency for the coordination of public policies to support the sector) and Digital Catapult (the public-private financing centre for the growth of digital start-ups, especially in the sector of machine intelligence and its possible applications). Another important meeting was held with Data Ethics Team DCMS, a centre set up to study the ethical repercussions of accessing, processing and storing data which make up the primary resource for the functioning of artificial intelligence systems.
