Ilona Lundström, D. Sc.

Ilona Lundström received her Ph.D. in administrative science at Tampere University school of management. She worked in various positions at the association of Finnish local and regional authorities, then worked at Tekes in 2007 for the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation in the business field, most recently as executive director responsible for all tech services for large companies and research organizations. Now is the general director of the enterprise and innovation department at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland.

 

The digitalization policy in Finland: case AI and the European struggle

 7/may/2021  Seminario PISIS-UANL 2021      Attendance : 25

Introduction

Digital technologies, especially Artificial Intelligence (AI), have become common in services such as health, entertainment, education, shopping, among others. As a result of this evolution, a European commission has presented a vision for 2030, with objectives for a successful digital transformation in Europe and developing a sustainable and human-centered digital future. On this occasion, Ph.D. Ilona Lundström talks about the need to establish regulation for the use of these digital methods in government's decision-making t and the digitization of Finnish industries, aiming to empower people and businesses to create a prosperous and sustainable digital future.

Summary

Europe is a world leader in scientific production with 1.8 million researchers working in universities and research centers, producing thirty percent of the publications in the world. However, Europe does not monetize enough projects, decreasing the opportunity of transferring their cutting-edge knowledge to aid the business sector. Also, there is a lack of access to the data that could be useful for companies and academia. Finally, there is a slow adaptation by small companies to the use of new technologies .

There is not a specific methodology to follow on the solution of these problems, however, Finland focused on the collaboration between companies and academia, by providing economic incentives, creating programs of free courses and panels to make AI more approachable and acknowledged. One of the first political strategies on education consisted of applying an online course aimed at public schools and the general population introducing the basic knowledge of AI whose purpose is to instill confidence in ordinary people to use this technology. This strategy worked very well in Europe.

One more strategy consisted of informing companies about the opportunities and benefits of the use of new technologies in their operations. Another strategy is financing research in AI through international collaborations. Finally, the overall goal is to promote sustainable growth and protect the environment by gradually reducing the carbon footprint until eliminating it by 2035.

Conclusions

The Finish vision for 2030 envisages radical changes in the manufacturing industry by making it more efficient, clean, and digital; providing an improved and accelerated growth of knowledge and technology. However, over regulations of AI could produce unnecessary and heavy administrative burden which rather than helping to develop and to implement it may slow down its growth and hamper the companies performance, particularly of small business.

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