During Vivatech 2023, President Emmanuel Macron announced a bold plan aiming to establish France as a global leader in the field of artificial intelligence (AI).
The project is funded by France 2030 and includes a flagship initiative, the “AI-Cluster“, with a budget of 500 million euros.
This plan aims to establish centers of excellence for AI training and research throughout France, with the goal of becoming European and global leaders and doubling the number of AI specialists in France by 2030.
The ‘IA-Cluster’ project call aims to establish between 5 and 10 universities and schools as European and global leaders in AI.
The institutions selected by an international jury will benefit from significant investment to position France at the forefront of the global higher education and AI research ecosystem.
The program aims to strengthen at least three French institutions in the top 50 global universities in the field of AI, and to double the number of high-level AI specialists.
Furthermore, the increased computing capacity of the Jean Zay supercomputer (GENCI-CNRS) and the arrival of the Exascale supercomputer in 2025, in co-investment with the European Union, will be valuable assets for the development of AI in France.
In order to assist French companies in their adoption of AI, the new IA Booster France 2030 initiative has been launched.
This program, funded by the state to the tune of 25 million euros, aims to enrich the service offerings of French SMEs and mid-tier companies, improve their competitiveness, and modernize their production apparatus thanks to AI.
The President also announced the launch of a large-scale international challenge, aimed at promoting the emergence and comparison of the best global teams in AI, including several French teams. This challenge, spanning several months, will put the various developed models to the test through a variety of tasks of increasing difficulty.
These initiatives are part of the national strategy around AI launched in 2018.
Nearly 2.2 billion euros will be dedicated to AI for the next five years, including 1.5 billion euros in public funding and 506 million euros in private co-financing.
