Last week I went to an aquarium shop to buy a water heater for my fish. I have been buying devices like this since I was nine years old and have seen them evolving in efficiency. But this time there was a quantum leap.
The shop owner proposed a device which not only heats the water but also keeps track of water parameters like PH and ammonia levels. The device is internet connected and sends you an SMS in case any parameter gets close to danger zone for the aquarium inhabitants.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is clearly moving in on every aspect of our lives. From intelligent inboxes to automated driving, to robotic-aid in surgeries, AI is bound to transform our lifestyles.
Our dependence on AI technology is bound to increase. The process will neither be slowed nor reversed, similar to the automobile revolution. Do we want to be car manufacturers or the horse cart traders who went out of business?
Malta has already established itself as the regional hub in gaming and is doing so in blockchain. An ecosystem with AI developers and entrepreneurs at its centre would boost Malta’s competitiveness to new highs while creating top-end jobs and promoting a more productive manufacturing and services industry deploying AI solutions across the board.
However, I see one weak link locally in completing a solid AI ecosystem; the number of deep-tech SMEs and start-ups, and the level of research and development (R&D) activity on the island, is lagging behind. We spend barely 0.5 per cent of our GDP on R&D compared to two or three per cent for most EU Member States. There has been no evolution in this area for 10 years. Historically, we have the lowest absorption in the EU of funds for innovation and research.
Attracting businesses to relocate to Malta, in order to turn us into a blockchain island, is a good thing but is not enough for us to reap the benefits of the digital revolution. To do that we must attract the high-end scientists, engineers and ICT professionals to use Malta as a base for innovation that will shape the future global economy.
Malta has the potential to become the regional testing ground for new AI inventions
Malta has the potential to become the regional testing ground for new AI inventions. We need to attract the new Zuckerbergs and Gates of the next phase of AI and the Internet of Things to sow their first seeds of success in Gżira or Valletta. We should simply not settle for the few quick bucks when we can aim for the proverbial goose laying the golden egg.
To make the leap from office space to innovation hub we need to reuse the tool that has enabled Malta to transform itself in the modern economy it is today: EU funding. The European Commission has just presented a draft long-term budget for 2021-2027 which, for the first time, introduces a Digital Europe Fund valued at €9.2 billion, €2.5 billion of which will be dedicated to projects by businesses or public administrations to deploy AI solutions in Member States.
Unlike Cohesion funding, which seems to be the fixed priority of the government, and of which Malta’s share is naturally expected to be reduced post-2021 (given the heavy EU investment in Malta’s infrastructure from 2004 to 2020), in the case of these funds there will be no fixed allocation per Member State. There will be no quota or minimum allocation that Malta can expect by right. Malta’s ability to leverage this funding will entirely depend on our ability to present innovative projects capable of using EU funding to our advantage.
This will not happen by itself. The government needs to take a front role. The country needs to play its cards right and invest in its capacity to attract research and concept development in AI, robotics and digital, with a view to completing the economic cycle for AI investments from development to deployment to marketing.
This is, incidentally, the winning formula if we are also to ensure that the digital revolution does not leave victims in its wake. Once AI spreads to our factories and restaurants, with robots taking the jobs of waiters and machine operators, we need to be in a position to ensure that workers in these sectors are trained and transitioned to other jobs before it is too late. The Digital Europe fund mentioned earlier foresees a €700 million allocation for job transition projects which we can tap into to prepare our workers for the main side effect of the otherwise exciting digital revolution.
Time is ripe for the government to diversify its approach to EU funding to include emphasis on these new areas. Judging by its own declarations, in the 2019 budget and in published documents, this does not seem to be the case.
I call on the government to consider a change of strategy. It is not too late to make European money work for the Maltese people once again as it has done since our accession to the EU.
Peter Agius is a PN candidate for the European elections, former head of the European Parliament Office and Cabinet member of the President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani.
This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece