This year’s theme, “European Sovereignty in AI, Data, and Robotics,” emphasized the importance of
innovation and competitiveness in driving Europe’s technological leadership. The program featured
keynote speeches, engaging panel discussions, and parallel sessions tackling both industrial and
societal challenges. The forum also provided ample networking opportunities, with exhibition stands
and poster displays fostering collaboration and idea-sharing. Among the sessions of the event was the AI-on-Demand presentation, “A User Guide for the AI Research and Innovation Community,” delivered by Joaquin Vanschoren, a machine learning
researcher and associate professor at Eindhoven University of Technology. As a member of the
AI4Europe technical team, Joaquin introduced participants to the European AI-on-Demand platform,
a key resource for connecting AI researchers and innovators across Europe.

The session showcased the platform’s functionalities, demonstrating how it facilitates access to AI
tools, datasets, and collaborative opportunities. Tailored for academia, industry, and SMEs, the
platform serves as a bridge between research and market applications, fostering scalable, practical AI
solutions. Participants learned how to maximize the platform’s potential to drive real-world impact
and explored ways to contribute to and benefit from its growing ecosystem.
In addition to the presentation, attendees had the opportunity to learn more about the AI-on-
Demand initiative by visiting its dedicated stand in the exhibition area. The stand offered additional
information of the platform’s functionalities and served as a hub for one-on-one discussions,
allowing participants to engage directly with AI-on-Demand’s team members and gain personalized
guidance on leveraging the platform’s resources for their projects.

The 2024 ADRF underscored Europe’s commitment to responsible, forward-thinking innovation in AI,
data, and robotics. With the AI-on-Demand initiative playing a pivotal role, the forum reinforced the
importance of collaboration in achieving European sovereignty in digital technologies, leaving
participants inspired and ready to drive the next wave of advancements.

AI-on-demand initiative took the stage at the second edition of the AI, Data, and Robotics Forum
(ADRF), held on November 4-5 at the iconic Evoluon in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Organized by the
AI, Data and Robotics Association (Adra) in partnership with the European Commission and local host
AiNed, the event attracted over 400 participants, including industry leaders, researchers,
policymakers, and visionary speakers.

This year’s theme, “European Sovereignty in AI, Data, and Robotics,” emphasized the importance of
innovation and competitiveness in driving Europe’s technological leadership. The program featured
keynote speeches, engaging panel discussions, and parallel sessions tackling both industrial and
societal challenges. The forum also provided ample networking opportunities, with exhibition stands
and poster displays fostering collaboration and idea-sharing. Among the sessions of the event was the AI-on-Demand presentation, “A User Guide for the AI Research and Innovation Community,” delivered by Joaquin Vanschoren, a machine learning
researcher and associate professor at Eindhoven University of Technology. As a member of the
AI4Europe technical team, Joaquin introduced participants to the European AI-on-Demand platform,
a key resource for connecting AI researchers and innovators across Europe.

The session showcased the platform’s functionalities, demonstrating how it facilitates access to AI
tools, datasets, and collaborative opportunities. Tailored for academia, industry, and SMEs, the
platform serves as a bridge between research and market applications, fostering scalable, practical AI
solutions. Participants learned how to maximize the platform’s potential to drive real-world impact
and explored ways to contribute to and benefit from its growing ecosystem.
In addition to the presentation, attendees had the opportunity to learn more about the AI-on-
Demand initiative by visiting its dedicated stand in the exhibition area. The stand offered additional
information of the platform’s functionalities and served as a hub for one-on-one discussions,
allowing participants to engage directly with AI-on-Demand’s team members and gain personalized
guidance on leveraging the platform’s resources for their projects.

The 2024 ADRF underscored Europe’s commitment to responsible, forward-thinking innovation in AI,
data, and robotics. With the AI-on-Demand initiative playing a pivotal role, the forum reinforced the
importance of collaboration in achieving European sovereignty in digital technologies, leaving
participants inspired and ready to drive the next wave of advancements.

AI-on-demand initiative took the stage at the second edition of the AI, Data, and Robotics Forum
(ADRF), held on November 4-5 at the iconic Evoluon in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Organized by the
AI, Data and Robotics Association (Adra) in partnership with the European Commission and local host
AiNed, the event attracted over 400 participants, including industry leaders, researchers,
policymakers, and visionary speakers.

This year’s theme, “European Sovereignty in AI, Data, and Robotics,” emphasized the importance of
innovation and competitiveness in driving Europe’s technological leadership. The program featured
keynote speeches, engaging panel discussions, and parallel sessions tackling both industrial and
societal challenges. The forum also provided ample networking opportunities, with exhibition stands
and poster displays fostering collaboration and idea-sharing. Among the sessions of the event was the AI-on-Demand presentation, “A User Guide for the AI Research and Innovation Community,” delivered by Joaquin Vanschoren, a machine learning
researcher and associate professor at Eindhoven University of Technology. As a member of the
AI4Europe technical team, Joaquin introduced participants to the European AI-on-Demand platform,
a key resource for connecting AI researchers and innovators across Europe.

The session showcased the platform’s functionalities, demonstrating how it facilitates access to AI
tools, datasets, and collaborative opportunities. Tailored for academia, industry, and SMEs, the
platform serves as a bridge between research and market applications, fostering scalable, practical AI
solutions. Participants learned how to maximize the platform’s potential to drive real-world impact
and explored ways to contribute to and benefit from its growing ecosystem.
In addition to the presentation, attendees had the opportunity to learn more about the AI-on-
Demand initiative by visiting its dedicated stand in the exhibition area. The stand offered additional
information of the platform’s functionalities and served as a hub for one-on-one discussions,
allowing participants to engage directly with AI-on-Demand’s team members and gain personalized
guidance on leveraging the platform’s resources for their projects.

The 2024 ADRF underscored Europe’s commitment to responsible, forward-thinking innovation in AI,
data, and robotics. With the AI-on-Demand initiative playing a pivotal role, the forum reinforced the
importance of collaboration in achieving European sovereignty in digital technologies, leaving
participants inspired and ready to drive the next wave of advancements.

AI-on-demand initiative took the stage at the second edition of the AI, Data, and Robotics Forum
(ADRF), held on November 4-5 at the iconic Evoluon in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Organized by the
AI, Data and Robotics Association (Adra) in partnership with the European Commission and local host
AiNed, the event attracted over 400 participants, including industry leaders, researchers,
policymakers, and visionary speakers.

This year’s theme, “European Sovereignty in AI, Data, and Robotics,” emphasized the importance of
innovation and competitiveness in driving Europe’s technological leadership. The program featured
keynote speeches, engaging panel discussions, and parallel sessions tackling both industrial and
societal challenges. The forum also provided ample networking opportunities, with exhibition stands
and poster displays fostering collaboration and idea-sharing. Among the sessions of the event was the AI-on-Demand presentation, “A User Guide for the AI Research and Innovation Community,” delivered by Joaquin Vanschoren, a machine learning
researcher and associate professor at Eindhoven University of Technology. As a member of the
AI4Europe technical team, Joaquin introduced participants to the European AI-on-Demand platform,
a key resource for connecting AI researchers and innovators across Europe.

The session showcased the platform’s functionalities, demonstrating how it facilitates access to AI
tools, datasets, and collaborative opportunities. Tailored for academia, industry, and SMEs, the
platform serves as a bridge between research and market applications, fostering scalable, practical AI
solutions. Participants learned how to maximize the platform’s potential to drive real-world impact
and explored ways to contribute to and benefit from its growing ecosystem.
In addition to the presentation, attendees had the opportunity to learn more about the AI-on-
Demand initiative by visiting its dedicated stand in the exhibition area. The stand offered additional
information of the platform’s functionalities and served as a hub for one-on-one discussions,
allowing participants to engage directly with AI-on-Demand’s team members and gain personalized
guidance on leveraging the platform’s resources for their projects.

The 2024 ADRF underscored Europe’s commitment to responsible, forward-thinking innovation in AI,
data, and robotics. With the AI-on-Demand initiative playing a pivotal role, the forum reinforced the
importance of collaboration in achieving European sovereignty in digital technologies, leaving
participants inspired and ready to drive the next wave of advancements.

In our study, 28 PhD students from 13 countries across Europe reveal many challenges, including  issues with data and code quality, meaning that AI research is facing challenges in reproducing results. If AI findings aren’t reproducible, the entire foundation of technologies built on them becomes shaky—and that has real-world impacts on other fields. By tackling these issues head-on, we can make a shift toward more responsible, transparent and reliable AI.

Five key challenges facing AI research according to the results of the interviews with doctoral students in AI:

1. Data Quality is a Major Roadblock: AI researchers reported frequent issues with dataset quality and accessibility, which can undermine research outcomes. Missing expert  data annotations, limited access because of  privacy hurdles are common and time-consuming challenges that researchers face before even beginning their experiments.
2. Reproducibility is in Crisis: A lack of reproducibility means that it’s often impossible to verify the results of AI studies reliably. Researchers found mismatches between published code and experiment results, incomplete documentation, and even errors that make it hard to replicate findings. Thus, the problem of availability of AI assets shifted to the issues of their quality.
3. Code and Model Bugs Slow Progress: In addition to dataset issues, many researchers reported encountering bugs in publicly shared code and model inconsistencies that weren’t flagged in the original papers. This not only wastes valuable time but also decreases confidence in shared AI resources.
4. Limited Interdisciplinary Collaboration: AI research may benefit greatly from interdisciplinary input, but many early-career researchers found it difficult to connect with experts in other fields. This isolation can limit the robustness and trustworthiness of AI applications applied in other domains.
5. Lack of User Research and Human Involvement: Early-stage AI researchers often overlook involving real users or stakeholders in the development process, although the impact of AI on humans is critical. This gap means that user experience, ethical considerations, and practical relevance may be under-addressed, risking AI systems that may not meet real-world needs or expectations. Integrating user research and stakeholder input is essential for creating AI solutions that are both effective and trustworthy.

Solutions for Building a Responsible and Reproducible Future for AI

To address these challenges, we suggest both technical and social solutions to make AI research more robust and trustworthy.

1. AI conferences and journals should widely adopt reproducibility checklists and badges, giving clear incentives for sharing reproducible code and data. 
2. Research institutions could also provide dedicated resources—like standardized coding guidelines or full-time staff for code maintenance—to make high-quality, consistent documentation a norm. Interdisciplinary collaboration, involving ethicists, legal experts, information specialists, user-experience and other specialists is another key recommendation that  can more directly address the social and ethical dimensions of technology.
3. On the international level,  establishing a “cloud federation” of shared resources, where researchers can access standardized tools, data, and models through centralized, reliable infrastructures, will help ensure that AI resources are accessible, reproducible, and relevant for a wider community. And this is where AIoD can help not only doctoral students, but AI researchers in general.

These solutions are setting the foundation for an AI research ecosystem that’s transparent, responsible, and aligned with society’s needs. While technology can help address certain challenges, the bigger hurdle lies in implementing changes at the social level. We need systematic procedural updates, but unfortunately, change management today is often reactive, inconsistent, and unstructured - leading to a high rate of failure. Nevertheless, it is not impossible and the first step is knowing what needs to be changed. 

AI on Demand (AIoD), as Europe’s exclusive AI platform, aims to foster integration and collaboration within the European AI community. Its mission is to empower European research and innovation in AI, while ensuring the European seal of quality, trustworthiness and explainability. The platform offers innovative tools such as MyLibrary, a service that allows researchers to explore AI assets and datasets directly on the site, and RAIL (Research and Innovation AI Lab), which gives users access to explore datasets and models, as well as generating and exporting code.

AIoD’s goal is to become the community-driven platform for sharing and uploading AI information and assets in the EU. By widening its reach, it intends to bring together more researchers and developers who are interesting in AI. This will also build awareness and brand recognition, in addition to impactful contributions from the stakeholders. Recently, the Community Engagement strategy has been outlined for the platform, for the remaining duration of the AI4Europe project, which currently manages the AIoD platform. The project encourages transferrable research on AI to foster innovation, reducing the gap between industrial and academic research.

The Engagement Strategy focuses on two key phases: Community Expansion and Sustainability.

Expansion (September 2024 – July 2025)  

Expansion will focus on expanding the reach of AIoD, encouraging academic and business collaborations. New approaches to community engagement will include

• A community forum
• Enhancing platform visibility online through social media and the AI4Europe project website
• Sharing success stories
• Hosting collaborative events between academic and industry partners

Examples of upcoming events which members of the AIoD platform will attend are:

• ADRA Forum 2024 – Eindhoven, The Netherlands: 4^th – 5^th November 2024
• Lucia Winter School on AI & Robotics - Örebro, Sweden: 9^th – 13^th December 2024
• DSME Summit – Brussels, Belgium: 10th December 2024

Earlier events held previously brought remarkable success, awareness and insights from the community, which we will continue to build upon:

• AI4Europe 3^rd General Assembly: Coimbra, Portugal
• 4th AI Community Workshop 2024 & AIDA Symposium, Thessaloniki, Greece
• European Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Santiago de Compostela, Spain 
• European Big Data Forum: Budapest, Hungary

This representation helps increase the sense of community-driven work. This form of social engagement will help in growing the community, working together with research and ideas, as well as getting to further understand the current research and use of AI in Europe. Participation in these events encourages networking, knowledge exchange, and understanding of current AI trends in Europe. 

Sustainability (September 2024 – December 2025)

The sustainability of the platform is to become community-led, meaning that working groups and their members will help to support the platform’s relevance and useability. This support will be from fostering engagement via continuous interaction, building relationships, listening to, and using community feedback, building partnerships with institutions, research bodies and stakeholders, and encouraging peer support and user-led content. There are currently working groups in development which will aim to support this sustainability, by building and populating research and metadata, and having a community forum to allow for communication and sharing of ideas between users of the platform.

How to Connect

We invite AI enthusiasts to get involved by joining discussions, taking part in webinars, or sharing feedback on the platform's various sections, such as MyLibrary and RAIL. All news and events can be found on our website here.  To stay further connected, you can:

• Follow AIoD on social media (@AIonDemand on X and AI-on-Demand on LinkedIn)
• Subscribe to our newsletter from the main site (aiod.eu)
• Reach out directly via email (info@aiod.eu) for general queries
• Community feedback can be sent directly here
• Technical queries can be sent to this form.

Webit 2024, held on October 23 at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia, Bulgaria, brought together global innovators, leaders, and policymakers to explore this year’s theme: “Sustainable AI Future for Humans & Robots.” The event, known for its focus on cutting-edge technologies and societal impact, provided a stage for the AI on Demand (AIoD) platform to take centre spotlight, represented by the F6S Innovation team.

AIoD: Empowering Europe’s AI Research Community

At Webit, AIoD’s showcase highlighted its critical role as a collaborative platform designed to propel AI research and innovation across Europe. Developed under the AI4Europe initiative, AIoD is a one-stop hub where researchers, industry professionals, and policymakers can access AI resources, foster partnerships, and drive innovation forward.

What AIoD Brings to the AI Landscape:

• Access to Research & Tools: AIoD aggregates resources, including data sets, algorithms, and case studies, providing a centralised location for researchers and developers to access vital tools.
• Community-Driven Innovation: By bringing together diverse stakeholders, AIoD creates an environment for knowledge-sharing, where users can exchange insights, collaborate on projects, and spark new ideas.
• Supporting the United Nations SDGs: Aligned with Webit’s commitment to sustainable tech, AIoD aims to facilitate advancements in AI that drive social good, from health and environmental impact to responsible AI development.

Keynote: “Unlock AI’nnovation with the AI on Demand Platform”

One of the highlights was Ana Luísa Alves’ keynote, "Unlock AI’nnovation with the AI on Demand platform." Presented on the Main Stage, Ana Luísa emphasised how AIoD is shaping the European AI ecosystem by making research accessible and fostering a collaborative environment. Her address underscored AIoD’s vision to empower researchers and innovators to work together seamlessly, a mission that aligns closely with the sustainable and inclusive goals discussed at Webit.

Engaging the Community at Webit

To facilitate direct engagement, AIoD’s booth at Webit featured live demos, resource materials, and interactive discussions. Attendees were invited to provide feedback on AIoD’s features via QR codes, creating a dynamic space for conversation. This feedback loop helped gather insights on what researchers and developers need most from a community-driven AI platform, from enhanced data accessibility to collaborative project tools.

See you Next Year

As AIoD continues to foster collaboration and drive innovation across Europe, it serves not only as a platform for research but also as a catalyst for change in the tech landscape. The insights and connections made during this event will undoubtedly pave the way for new initiatives that prioritise sustainability and inclusivity.

The 2024 European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI), held from October 19-24 in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, brought together researchers, students, and industry professionals for a week of AI-focused discussions, workshops, and presentations. The event served as a platform for innovation and collaboration in the field of artificial intelligence, attracting participants from across Europe and beyond.

Event Highlights

The AIoD (Artificial Intelligence on Demand) workshop, held on October 19, drew considerable interest. Attendees engaged with presentations by notable speakers, including Long Pham, Carolyn Kelleher, and Jennifer Renoux, who shared insights into the AIoD platform and its evolving role in the AI community. The workshop provided a comprehensive overview of the platform’s goals, tools, and future directions.

Key presentations included:

• Introduction to the AIoD Platform: An outline of the platform's mission to support the academic and professional AI community.
• Demo Videos of RAIL and MyLibrary: Showcasing the functionalities of RAIL (a research and learning assistant tool) and MyLibrary, which provides AI resources and tools.
• Community Engagement Strategy: Discussing plans to foster an interactive and supportive community through events, resources, and collaboration.
• Needs Assessment for the Academic Community: Gathering input on what features are most valuable for users and identifying emerging needs in the AI research ecosystem.

Key Achievements

The AIoD team successfully gathered contact information from participants interested in staying updated on future platform developments. Attendees provided valuable feedback, raising thoughtful questions about reference systems, proposing reward mechanisms and incentives for active contributors, and exploring ways to optimize community benefits. These insights will inform AIoD's ongoing strategy to enhance user engagement and platform utility.

The workshop also included the screening of AIoD’s latest YouTube video, produced by LOBA, offering a visual walkthrough of platform features and objectives. Attendees were encouraged to provide feedback via QR codes displayed during the event, fostering an interactive atmosphere.

Looking Forward

The success of ECAI 2024 highlights the growing momentum in AI research and collaboration. Events like the AIoD workshop provide essential touchpoints for the academic and industry communities to connect, innovate, and drive AI forward. The AIoD platform is poised to integrate these insights and continue its mission to serve as a dynamic resource for AI professionals, students, and researchers.

This paper engages in a comprehensive investigation concerning the application of Explainable Artificial Intelligence (xAI) within the context of deep learning and Artificial Intelligence, with a specific focus on its implications for cybersecurity. Firstly, the paper gives an overview of xAI techniques and their significance and benefits when applied in cybersecurity. Subsequently, the authors methodically delineate their systematic mapping study, which serves as an investigative tool for discerning the potential trajectory of the field. This strategic methodological framework lets one identify the future research directions and opportunities that underlie the integration of xAI within the realm of Deep Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and cybersecurity, which are described in-depth. Then, the paper brings together all the gathered insights from this extensive investigation and closes with final conclusions.