Norway's First AI Strategy

Last Tuesday, 14th January 2020, was a big day for the Norwegian IT sector as the government's national strategy for artificial intelligence was presented at a breakfast meeting at MESH, central Oslo. Over 160 people from business, academia and the public sector participated in the launch, as well as many who followed the event online. The presented strategy claims to serve as a framework for both public and private sectors that aim to develop and use artificial intelligence, especially in areas where Norway already is greatly positioned and has strong foundations, such as in health, oil and gas, energy, and marine industry. Regarding the current digital development, we see many countries have high ambitions where one worth mentioning is the UK. Their AI strategy was initiated in 2017, which has by 2019 opened 16 New Centres for Doctoral Training in AI at universities across the country, industry funding for new Masters positions and numerous governmental funded scholar-ships.