Romania in the era of Artificial Intelligence

November 2019

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Strategies and Action Plans

A strategy for the development and adoption of AI
technology at a country level

The Romania AI Strategy outlines a comprehensive roadmap to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) as a transformative force for societal and economic progress. The strategy emphasises a balanced approach to development, ensuring the widespread benefits of AI are realised while mitigating associated risks. This comprehensive strategy aims to position Romania as a leader in AI adoption and development, leveraging the technology to enhance societal well-being and bolster economic growth. At the same time, it ensures alignment with European Union (EU) directives on ethics, regulation, and security.

Vision

Grow responsibly through knowledge: Romania will enhance Romanian people’s lives through AI technology while becoming an active major contributor to the European and global AI ecosystem.

Mission

Increase quality of life and achieve economic growth via AI, ensuring alignment with ethical standards and EU guidelines. The strategy aims to:

  1. Create and retain AI talent.
  2. Foster AI research and industrialise research ideas.
  3. Facilitate effective AI adoption.
  4. Develop efficient data collection frameworks.

All these objectives must be followed through a human-centric approach to guarantee that the development and adoption of AI have maximal positive impact on the future of work and well-being of the Romanian people and that it will reflect

human ethical values in line with the international community.

Key strategic directions

  1. AI talent development:
    • Establish AI educational programs.
    • Fund AI-focused research and start-ups.
    • Support initiatives to strengthen local AI communities.
  2. AI research and development:
    • Promote collaborations between academia and industry.
    • Jointly fund AI research via public-private partnerships.
    • Align research efforts with international standards.
  3. Industrialisation:
    • Develop incubators, start-ups, and accelerators.
    • Transition AI research ideas into commercial products or services.
  4. STEM education:
    • Study the impact of AI on the job market.
    • Adapt educational systems for future demands.
    • Raise public awareness of AI’s potential.
  5. Data infrastructure:
    • Develop frameworks for legal and secure data collection.
    • Enable data sharing with safeguards for privacy and security.
  6. International cooperation:
    • Align Romanian AI initiatives with EU priorities.
    • Collaborate with organisations like CLAIRE and ELLIS.
  7. Regulation:
    • Establish policies to encourage AI adoption.
    • Boost public-private-academic partnerships.
    • Focus on cybersecurity and customer protection.
  8. Ethics:
    • Ensure ethical considerations guide AI adoption and development.

Impacted domains

  1. Agriculture and environment: Precision farming, wildlife monitoring, waste management, and smart irrigation.
  2. Healthcare: Chronic disease monitoring, rare disease diagnosis, and AI-enabled public health management.
  3. Education: Personalised learning, AR/VR-based education, and gamification.
  4. Infrastructure and smart cities: Autonomous transport, traffic management, and smart urban planning.
  5. Energy: Predictive maintenance and optimisation of resource usage.
  6. Manufacturing: Automation, defect detection, and production efficiency.
  7. IT and business services: NLP tools, smart chatbots, and task automation.
  8. Public administration: E-government services and enhanced customer interactions.
  9. Tourism and entertainment: Recommendation systems and smart customer support.
  10. National security: Enhanced cybersecurity and defense strategies.

Proposed projects

  1. Educational initiatives:
    • ‘Teach the Teachers’: Training high school educators in AI basics.
    • International Master’s program for AI.
    • Industry-funded AI research chairs in universities.
  2. Research & development:
    • AI for agriculture and rural healthcare (“AI Doctor for Every Village”).
    • Development of Romanian NLP corpora.
    • Application of machine learning in high-power laser technologies.

Implementation

Collaboration among stakeholders (government, academia, private sector, and civil society) is critical. Coordination will ensure resources are optimally used, and the country’s interests are aligned with broader EU objectives.