“A Mexican national AI strategy will allow Mexico to align sectors’ interests and funding strategies, to boost the country’s competitiveness, and to democratise knowledge around AI development and adoption, with a focus on ethics and social impact,” Ms Martínez says when introducing the country’s AI vision.

Mexico published its national white paper entitled “Towards an AI Strategy in Mexico: Harnessing the AI Revolution” in June 2018, a collaboration project between Oxford Insights and C Minds, commissioned by the British Embassy in Mexico. The report gives an international overview of AI policies, assesses opportunities in Mexico and offers recommendations for the development of a Mexican national AI strategy. The project provides estimates of the impact of AI in the Mexican labour market in the next 20 years and gives policy recommendations in five key areas: governance, government and public services; research and development; capacity, skills, and education; data infrastructure; and ethics and regulation. “The main challenge to first creating and then sustaining and implementing the strategy is the change in administrations both federal and local levels. The existence of AI champions on all levels — public servants and legislators — is key for the strategy to succeed,” Ms Martínez says.

“The main challenge to first creating and then sustaining and implementing the strategy is the change in administrations both federal and local levels. The existence of AI champions on all levels — public servants and legislators — is key for the strategy to succeed,”

says Cristina Martínez Pinto of C Minds.

Participants of the project started by mapping the ecosystem’s key actors across sectors: public sector, industries, start-ups, academia, and civil society. They interviewed 68 experts to understand, from their different viewpoints, the main challenges and opportunities for accelerating AI development.

“The policy recommendations developed in consultation with key actors of the ecosystem led to the creation of two relevant policy mechanisms. One is the creation of an AI Subcommission in the Interagency Commission for the Development of Electronic Government (CIDGE in Spanish), on the federal level. The other is the creation of IA2030Mx, cofounded and co-led by C Minds, a cross-sector coalition that is working to develop a more comprehensive national AI agenda and that recently published the results from their national AI survey, which had a reach of over 1,500 respondents across all states of Mexico,” Ms Martínez describes how their work contributed to the AI progress in the country.

Markets welcome AI recommendations

Sectors have appeared to receive C Minds’ recommendations well, as the report provided a basis for new collaborations and catalysed networking opportunities. Even though these are only initial steps towards a needed AI agenda, C Minds believes that current progress has led to a better articulation of the ecosystem and a better understanding of both the potential and risks of the AI revolution for Mexico.

Adopting a clearly transparent and democratic approach, the report is handled as a “living document”, and is available for further strengthening and editing online by anyone. “Through C Minds’ AI for Good Lab and through IA2030Mx we aim to deepen the debate and understanding of artificial intelligence in Mexico. Considering the current speed of technological development and evolution, it is important for the input toward a future Mexican AI strategy to be flexible and allow for multiple iterations, as it will be for the strategy itself,” Ms Martínez says.

Mexico sports a vibrant and diverse AI ecosystem. “We believe that a national AI strategy will help this ecosystem thrive even further and should recognise that AI, like any other technology, is a mere tool at the service of humanity. The strategy must be built about people and focus on harnessing the potential of responsible AI for both social and economic development,” Ms Martínez says, expressing ideas that echo the main cornerstones of Finland’s AI strategy, as Maikki Sipinen, Artificial Intelligence Specialist of Finland’s AI Strategy, discussed their progress with Business Malta earlier.

“We believe that a national AI strategy will help this ecosystem thrive even further … [and it] must be built about people and focus on harnessing the potential of responsible AI for both social and economic development,”

says Cristina Martínez Pinto of C Minds.

Ms Martínez finds that creating an AI strategy is a fascinating journey, one of continuous learning and experimentation, as AI itself is an emerging technology.

“Understanding Maltese values, ethics and having a country vision is vital for creating a unique strategy tailored to the country’s needs,” Ms Martinez weighs in when asked to share their experiences in order to provide insight for the Maltese progress. “How will the strategy impact Malta’s population in their daily lives? How will Malta’s AI strategy differentiate from other strategies and bring a new perspective to international conversations? These, and many other questions will be at the core of the debates you will soon be starting. We look forward to learning from Malta’s experience and, if needed, to provide more advice based on our own learnings,” Ms Martínez concludes.

The post Mexico sees its AI strategy key for fruitful future first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Finland was the first country in the European Union to start working on a national AI strategy back in May 2017, publishing the first report on their progress in October 2017. In June 2018, the second report foresaw that soon one million of the country’s population would need to update their AI skills. This second report also provided 28 policy recommendations related to the effects of AI on economy and employment, the labour market, education and skills management, and ethics. Another report is scheduled to hit the international digital stalls in English in April.

AI is a hot topic nowadays, and professionals expect technology to change our private and business lives significantly. “Artificial intelligence is often acknowledged as one of the key drivers of economic growth and an area of strategic importance. Managing the transformation to the AI era is one of the key success factors as AI holds great potential due to the combination of powerful computing and massive data sets that are increasingly available. Further, AI might hold the keys solving challenges citizens face and improving lives of people,” Ms Sipinen tells BM.

Finland, in preparation for their AI strategy, created a steering group forming a secure network of experts from the public and private sectors to provide input. “We chose to use a model of ‘network of networks’ to keep a wide group of experts from industry, public sector and academia involved in the national AI strategy work from the start. This proved to be a fruitful approach and can be recommended to Malta as well,” the AI specialist says.

The steering group was appointed by economy minister Mika Lintilä in May 2017 and falls under the scope of Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. It is led by Pekka Ala-Pietilä, CEO and co-founder of Blyk and former President of Nokia.

When approaching the matter of artificial intelligence, the steering group made sure to keep the people of Finland at the scope of their efforts and be courageous while also staying ethical. “Keeping citizens in the centre of our thinking [was the most important building block]. Our vision for AI-era Finland is to utilise artificial intelligence boldly and ethically in all fields of society and create a safe and democratic society offering the world’s best services. Artificial intelligence will help the public sector become an efficient and personalised service provider, and new technologies create significant growth for companies and through that a healthy growing economy,” Ms Sipinen says.

AI effects to show up in the long run

Finland has found the magnitude of shifting toward the AI era to be the most challenging part of their work, as the programme is primarily a preparation for the future. As such, for the time being, it is difficult to assess the result of the AI strategy as many actions having been taken by Finland mark the beginning of long-term changes.

However, having one and a half year of experience working on a national AI strategy, Business Malta asked the Finnish steering group to help Maltese stakeholders and legislators with their AI strategy efforts by sharing experience and offering recommendations.

“My advice would be to keep in mind the need to balance between kick-starting longer term, complex transformations (such as changes to the educational system to fulfil the promise of life-long learning) but at the same time also deliver on actions and projects that can be implemented right away. Also, it is vital to keep the citizens informed and engaged in the work as we can successfully apply new technologies only when there is public trust to them,” Ms Sipinen say.

“Good luck with the Maltese AI strategy work, we look forward to learning more about it!” the AI specialist concludes.

The post Finland creates bold and ethical AI strategy for all first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The government aims to develop a strategy through an international consultation process. “This is the first time ever that Malta is looking at seriously exploring the commercial potential related to space,” said Silvio Schembri, Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation.

The strategy is anticipated to stand on three main objectives, the parliamentary secretary said. The first objective is to create a competitive legal framework accommodating the development of a commercial space sector. The second objective is research and innovation through space-generated data. The third objective is job creation and economic growth.

“This will strengthen Malta’s appeal as a hub for foreign investment in this sector, attract foreign direct investment for space satellite and space mining companies, develop tailor-made incentive packages for space start-ups registration in Malta and satellite companies to register their operations in Malta,” Mr Schembri said.

The Space Malta Taskforce will be set up soon and will be responsible for overseeing the development of a Maltese policy framework which enables commercial activities related to outer space, to identify and develop key policy directives, the DOI press statement says. The task force is also expected to complement Malta’s overall goal of pursuing specialisation in its economy.

Mr Schembri said he believes space provides capabilities to solve challenges such as the monitoring of climate change, agriculture, maritime, epidemics and disaster resilience.

“Space can be a strong contributor to Malta’s economic growth. I look forward to working hand in hand with all stakeholders including European institutions, agencies, and international organisations, to seek cooperation with other countries and study the requisite policy and programming synergies and funding,” Mr Schembri added.

Omar Cutajar will chair the Space Malta Taskforce, and its members will be Dr Ing Kenneth Chircop, Matt Prusak, Prof Aaron Casha, Dr Ing Richard Blundell, Prof Kristian Zarb Adami, Dr Jean Marie Mifsud, Charles Pace, Roberto Cassar, and Roberta Albanese Dalli.

Malta’s vision for the National Space Strategy is available on its official website.

The post Malta envisages setting up national space strategy first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) is working on laying the necessary fundamentals and providing established firms and start-ups with a complete platform to explore their business concepts and solutions, accounting and advisory form RSM Malta says. The advisory business believes that such a platform would boost innovation and growth while providing regulatory objectives to protect investors and promote market integrity.

The MFSA identified six pillars for creating a holistic approach leading to the exploration of new technologies and innovations within the financial services sector, as follows: regulations, ecosystem, architecture, international links, knowledge and security. With the combination of these facets, fintech businesses in Malta will be able to address consumer needs by focusing on innovative product design, ease of use, accessibility and faster services, the RSM Malta press statement says.

The MFSA’s “FinTech Strategy” document is available for public view at the official webpage of the authority.

The post MFSA’s strategy aims to turn Malta into fintech hub first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Ms Muscat stressed the need for policymakers to acknowledge that patients with rare conditions should be given the same importance as those with conditions that are more widely known, according to a press statement issued by the government’s Department of Information (DOI).

“These small minorities need to be given a voice and hope that their future is brighter and less lonely,” said Ms Muscat. She added that governments around the globe on this day and age should listen to advocates of rare diseases. It is time for these advocates to talk in unison so that policymakers realise that the rare diseases community is a voice to be reckoned with, the DOI press statement says.

The post Maltese foundation urges ‘holistic’ strategy for supporting rare disease patients first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.