What if open innovation was the key to Europe catching up on AI ?

It’s clear that Europe, and not just France, is lagging behind in the artificial intelligence race. The USA and China largely dominate this field, while players like Mistral, although promising for specialists, are struggling to gain purchase with the general public.

So, how can we bridge this gap without resorting to costly and ineffective solutions, such as a massive injection of public funds from a money-printing machine that’s been overheated since the Covid crisis?

One avenue worth exploring is open innovation.

An idea inspired by open banking

The idea of open innovation applied to AI is not new, but it was brilliantly brought back to the fore by Jean-Paul Amoros, Chairman of the CDO Alliance, at a recent conference.

In his view, the open banking model, which revolutionized the financial sector more than a decade ago with PSD2, could be adapted to power generative AI engines.

How? By imposing open data, the real fuel for these technologies.

While AI algorithms are now widely available in open source, it’s the data that makes the difference.

Unlike giants like Grok, which relies on the virtually unlimited reservoir of X/Twitter, France lacks this massive access to information.

Opening up data, whether it is sector-specific (such as agricultural data) or across verticals, would accelerate the development of AI in Europe, while avoiding the need for disproportionate public investment.

A vision that has already been sketched out

This approach is not totally unprecedented. Back in 2021, as part of our discussions with the Open Business Factory (OBF), Eric Horesny and I, along with other experts, explored the idea of an API-based opening of services.

Such a strategy would enable finer-grained access to data, with concrete applications such as optimizing the ecological footprint of products and services.

In short, open innovation is part of a logic of incremental innovation: it recycles and improves existing concepts to adapt them to current challenges.

Challenges to overcome

Of course, widespread data openness cannot be achieved without careful consideration of two key points:

1. Access security: Strict standards, such as Common Criteria EAL4+, must guarantee the protection of shared data.
2. Digital sovereignty: The choice of local operators, such as French software publisher Axway, is crucial to preserving Europe’s technological independence.

An opportunity waiting to be seized

Open innovation could be the solution to enable France and Europe as a whole to catch up in the AI race, without adding to public debt or further impoverishing coffers. It’s a pragmatic approach, based on proven ideas and existing technologies.

At Axway, we’re ready to support companies in this transition, with tailored solutions to secure and optimize data openness.

Are you ready to explore open innovation to boost your AI projects? Let’s talk about it!