Hungary has published its strategy on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in May 2020. The Hungarian Government founded a Coalition on Artificial Intelligence, consisting of governmental institutions, IT companies and universities. This coalition consists of 260 member organisations and has drafted a national strategy on Artificial Intelligence with the aim to prepare the Hungarian society and economy and place Hungary at the European forefront in the area of AI development. It aims to strengthen the competitiveness of Hungarian companies by disseminating AI use-cases, to facilitate partnerships of Hungarian start-ups and SMEs in AI development activities with large companies and universities, and to promote that the Hungarian government develops a local AI ecosystem.
The comprehensive strategic document covers topics such as data regulations, the creation of a national AI laboratory, incentives for companies, support for R&D, training and education, development of infrastructures, but also ethical and legal aspects.
The strategy proposes the following measures:
- The establishment of the foundation pillars: the conditions for developing Artificial Intelligence in Hungary. These pillars include support for the data economy (ensuring access to public and private data), the establishment of a community of researchers and developers, the set-up of an ecosystem that supports the use of AI-related skills, the availability of software and hardware, and regulations that support further development and innovation.
- The assignment of focus areas: prioritising support for sectors that could be most effectively developed by Artificial Intelligence: manufacturing, agriculture, health care, public administration, logistics, transport and energy.
- The definition of transformative programmes: long-term points of orientation of strategic relevance to Hungary related to Artificial Intelligence. This includes (energy and agricultural) challenges induced by climate change, the labour market, the relation between citizens and the data-based economy, and the development of a modern digital service provider state.
AI is expected to add 11-14 percent to Hungary’s GNP by 2030.
The ATI project has recently published the AT Watch on Artificial Intelligence. This report underlines Artificial Intelligence as one the most significant technologies that are shaping the process of digital transformation and industrial modernisation. The report described the impressive potential of AI for future growth and economic impact, as it is a general-purpose technology which is expected to be adopted in different ways by all industries and all social actors. The report can be downloaded from the ATI website.