Reaffirming its role as an innovation catalyzer and partner in the digital transformation of companies, Microsoft announces the launch of AI Innovation, a program aimed at harnessing AI to promote the growth of five strategic industries in France: health, environment/energy, transportation, financial services, and agri-food.
Issy-les-Moulineaux, 23 May 2018 – At today’s Paris Tech for Good summit, organized by French President Emmanuel Macron leading up to Viva Technology, Microsoft has reaffirmed its commitment to playing an active role in making France an Artificial Intelligence nation, expanding on the AI Skills and AI Impact initiatives announced in March.
As a central player in France’s digital ecosystem, Microsoft is well positioned to be an effective innovation catalyzer, enabling companies from five key industries (health, energy & the environment, transportation, financial services, and agri-food) to seize emerging opportunities in the development of Artificial Intelligence applications and projects.
With the AI Innovation program, Microsoft continues its investments in France with two objectives:
– Being a committed partner to French companies to facilitate their digital transformation through use of the Cloud and Artificial Intelligence. A hundred experts will be hired on at Microsoft France this year to support the implementation of innovative AI projects serving those five target industries.
– Providing dedicated access to its technologies for the AI community created at Station F, as well as for the students of the Microsoft AI School who develop projects with the companies of these sectors.
“Deploying trusted and ethical Artificial Intelligence does not only promise solutions to our society’s major challenges; we are also convinced that it can unlock groundbreaking innovation and growth. France has the unique assets to play a driving role in this development,” states Carlo Purassanta, President of Microsoft France. “In this aim, we launched AI Skills and AI Impact back in March, and today we are pleased to announce AI Innovation, a new initiative bringing together AI technology and AI talents for the benefit of companies.”
AI Innovation: enabling companies to seize AI opportunities
To support the development of Artificial Intelligence, and support innovation in those 5 target industries (health, energy & the environment, transportation, financial services, and agri-food), Microsoft will add a hundred Artificial Intelligence specialists to its teams this year: data scientists, Cloud and AI architects, digital advisors, and developers assigned to innovation projects. This range of skills and backgrounds will enhance the Microsoft workforce and accelerate the development of innovative applications and services in the five economic industries defined as priority targets. First symbolic example with Schneider Electric, we announce the first AI Innovation initiative: the launch of our joint incubator in the field of energy transition and renewable energies.
France: a land of investments for Microsoft
The first half of 2018 has seen a series of emblematic Microsoft initiatives promoting the development of trusted digital technologies ensuring data sovereignty and responsible and ethical AI, from the opening of four data centers on French soil to launching the AI Impact and AI Skills initiatives. These actions come in addition to global Microsoft programs also underway in France, such as
– AI for Earth: the program puts Microsoft’s cloud and AI tools in the hands of those working to solve global environmental challenges. Through grants that provide access to cloud and AI tools, opportunities for education and training on AI, and investments in innovative, scalable solutions, AI for Earth works to advance sustainability across the globe.
– AI for Accessibility: A $25 million program that harnesses the power of AI to amplify human capability for the more than one billion people around the world with a disability.
Aimed at enhancing the French digital ecosystem, all of these actions show the strong sense of partnership inherent to Microsoft’s identity:
– 6 March 2018 – Inauguration of the Microsoft AI School for the public, particularly unemployed persons. Opened in partnership with the social and solidarity digital training company Simplon, this unique and alternative school promotes equal opportunity. It is set up to provide the 24 participants with job opportunities in AI; after completing an intensive seven-month training course, they are hired for a twelve-month work-training contract at Microsoft partner companies, stakeholders in this first-of-its-kind program.
– 14 March 2018 – Opening of four data centers in France, three in the Paris area and one near Marseilles, reaffirming Microsoft’s commitment to France’s digital ecosystem by allowing companies and organizations to receive the Azure and Office 365 services from France. These new data centers expand Microsoft’s Cloud offer, the largest on the market, including Microsoft Azure, Office 365, and Dynamics 365.
– 29 March 2018 – Microsoft announces $30 million investment over three years in France at the Artificial Intelligence summit in Paris, for the development of our ecosystem and trusted AI in France. Two flagship measures are introduced with the announcement:
– The creation of AI Impact, a think tank and action panel made up of a collective of French companies and startups partnering with Microsoft to promote ethical AI.
– The launch of AI Skills, a national program based on skill building in the areas of AI, Cloud, and Coding for all, an extension of the inauguration of the AI School.
The stated goal is to educate and train 400,000 people from all different backgrounds while, pivotally, creating 3000 new jobs in the French digital ecosystem. Within this scope, the AI School will train 500 learners to be AI developers. Children will begin learning about coding from the age of 7 through tutorials based on the game Minecraft. The three-year goal is to reach 1 million children through these workshops during the Hour of Code week.
– 30 March 2018 – Microsoft France, partner to the PRAIRIE Institute, an excellence hub dedicated to Artificial Intelligence. Microsoft joins the initiative to create the PRAIRIE Institute (PaRis Artificial Intelligence Research InstitutE) alongside public research institutes (CNRS, Inria, PSL, etc.) and companies. Building on its partnership of more than ten years with Inria, Microsoft thus reaffirms its commitment to supporting research in France to spur the development of ethical and responsible Artificial Intelligence.
– And now today 23 May 2018 – Launch of the AI Innovation program to drive growth in five strategic industries in France thanks to AI (health, environment/energy, transportation, financial services, and agri-food), including the pivotal hiring of a hundred AI experts.
With these extensive investments, Microsoft is more committed than ever to playing a major role in driving the digital transformation in France so that all parties—from organizations and companies to individuals—can free their potential and be empowered.
