The Dutch AI Coalition (NLAIC) is joining the European AI Startup Landscape, an initiative that aims to map the AI startup ecosystem of Europe. While the European AI Startup Landscape currently consists of approximately 500 startups from France, Germany and Sweden, the number will swell with the Netherlands joining the initiative.
“The landscape is a wonderful addition to the existing AI Startup Landscape of ai.nl”, says our founder Remy Gieling. “To give these amazing entrepreneurs and companies the international exposure they deserve, is of great benefit for the AI ecosystem as a whole. That is why we invest time and effort helping the NLAIC and the regional hubs curate the companies for the list.”
For the past few months, the Netherlands has been making significant progress on the AI front. From understanding how far Dutch companies have deployed AI and robotics to medical centres setting up AI labs to AI being used to measure accessibility and specific companies innovating in recruitment and hr, the Netherlands is making bold moves on deploying AI across multiple areas. By joining the European AI Startup Landscape, the country is opening up its innovation and progress for the European continent to see.
European AI Startup Landscape: what is the aim of this initiative
While traditional businesses have tried to operate independently or build solutions on their own, AI is such a profound technology that one cannot do it all alone. The European AI Startup Landscape understands this challenge and thus allows all existing organisations to search for a centralised database for AI startups to work with.
The initiative came about with the objective of fostering and accelerating AI in Europe. In early 2020, appliedAI by UnternehmerTUM (Germany), Ignite Sweden, AI Sweden and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden (Sweden) came together to start the initial process of mapping the AI startup ecosystem in Europe.
A recent study showed that a large number of Dutch companies are interested in adopting AI solutions but are largely unaware of how AI could help them. An initiative like European AI Startup Landscape can fix this gap by shining light on top AI startups in Europe, helping people to know about AI services, and thus drive adoption and create partnership opportunities.
“It is great that the Netherlands is participating in the European AI Startup Landscape. It is a great way to promote our selected startups on the international stage and thereby strengthen their access to potential customers, partners and investors,” Anita Lieverdink, startups & scale-ups working group, mentions in a statement.
Why is there a need to bring AI startups together
The current business landscape stands testimony to the fact that working together is always beneficial. However, in the case of AI, it is paramount that startups and fully developed companies collaborate. It is not only beneficial for both parties but also helps the economy. Developed companies need a broad selection of AI solutions but startups tend to focus on one niche segment, allowing them to offer solutions with the latest technology.
AI systems are also dependent on the quality of datasets to be really effective. As a result, an AI solution from a startup supplying to many companies will outperform a similar solution developed in-house with a small set of data and applications. Since AI is constantly changing, a collaborative environment will allow for knowledge sharing, hiring people with specific skills and collection of data.
By partnering with startups, companies are able to steer clear of these challenges and focus on value retention instead.
European AI Startup Landscape international launch: What you need to know
With the Netherlands joining the European AI Startup Landscape, the initiative is set to expand globally with the international launch set for early next year. The Dutch AI Coalition (NL AIC), the network of AI hubs in the Netherlands, TechLeap and the editorial staff of ai.nl try to help every startup grow. They are now helping Dutch AI startups to present themselves to potential partners.
The interested Dutch AI startups can register until December 15 by filling in this registration form. If your startup isn’t mentioned on the AI Startup Landscape of ai.nl, you should reach out to us as well. The selection of eligible AI startups will be done by an independent committee on the basis of jointly established criteria.
The primary criteria are that startups need to have AI at their core or show significant use of AI. These startups must also be significantly large and have been established in the last 10 years. To recollect, the first version of the European AI Startup Landscape was presented on November 17, 2020, during the virtual Sweden Innovation Days event and it was supported by the German Entrepreneurship and the German Accelerator program as well as Vinnova, Sweden’s Innovation Agency.
A list of the top AI startups in France, Germany and Sweden was developed by appliedAI (Germany), Ignite Sweden, AI Sweden, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden (Sweden) as well as Hub France IA (France). With the international launch, the landscape will expand to include some of the popular AI startups from the Netherlands as well.