BEIJING, May 20 (APP): European business representatives and officials said China’s advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are creating real opportunities for cooperation with Europe, stressing that standards, data security and governance will shape how far such cooperation will go.
Their comments, made in a group media interview on the sidelines of a trade and investment event in Beijing, suggest that AI cooperation between China and Europe is moving beyond broad discussions and toward specific use cases in medical technology, industrial automation, and business operations.
Yolanda Díaz Pérez, Spain’s Second Vice President and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, said cooperation with China in the field of AI is important, describing the technology as “the defining challenge of our time.”
He said countries need to share synergies in the use of AI and algorithms to increase productivity and do better jobs, while also managing and democratizing technology, regulating algorithms, protecting workers and businesses, and addressing unfair competition from the world’s leading technology companies, CEN reported.
Matthias Boyer, president of the Danish Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China, said AI and robotics offer powerful opportunities, especially when combined. He said Chinese companies such as Unitree are working rapidly to develop products that can ease the burden of some tasks currently performed by humans.
But he said guardrails are also needed for AI development.
“We need to regulate it the right way, but we also need to allow innovation and make sure we protect the security of data in the process,” Boyer said.
Boyer pointed to medical technology as one promising area for cooperation, saying China’s scale and speed of application can support faster research, testing and deployment of new solutions.
“In the field of medical technology, research iterations and testing of medical solutions are much faster, more detailed and more comprehensive in China,” he said.
Christophe Laura, president of the French Chamber of Commerce in China, also pointed to governance as an important condition for cooperation. He described AI and robotics as a “global opportunity” but said the technology needs to be carefully managed and regulated.
Simon Lichtenberg, founder of China’s Danish Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Europe needs to move faster in the field of AI while finding a viable model for cooperation with China.
“Many European technologies are still very strong and there are many areas for cooperation. But we need to find the right model,” he said.
He said companies are already using AI in marketing, internal transportation, and vehicle planning and procurement, with automation and small AGV robots helping to improve the efficiency of business operations.
Chris Torrence, president of the British Chambers of Commerce in China, pointed to existing links between UK research hubs and Chinese partners, with organizations and businesses around Cambridge, Oxford and London contributing to AI development and collaborating with their Chinese peers.
