The AI4EU project is entering its second year. Since the beginning of the project in early January 2019, the project has successfully delivered an impressive set of results. The project is now on the right track, and we are working full steam to meet stakeholders' expectations. The version V0 of the AI on-demand platform is now up and running, with, in just a few months, more than 1300 users registered and 50 active discussions and groups. The version V1, scheduled in the coming days, will add the repository and catalog of assets, allowing users to publish their AI resources. In March, the workspace and playground functionalities will enable users to work and experiment with AI assets on the platform.

Meanwhile, the project has started to make its footprint on the European ecosystem. Two major events in Paris and Athens have gathered more than 2500 participants, sharing their thoughts about AI and the role of the AI on-demand platform. AI4EU partners have participated in more than fifty external European AI events and workshops.

The openness of the platform to the whole ecosystem is one of the principal strategic directions, which will guide the future development of the platform and its service layers. To that end, an Architectural Committee involving the main AI organizations in Europe will regularly meet to improve the platform and make it a common outcome, almost a shared asset for the community. This committee, replacing the initially foreseen High-Level Advisory Board, will help the project to mobilize the entire community. The strategy of the European Commission acts as an enabler in this strategic move by asking the next AI projects (ICT-48, ICT-49, and others) to connect and bring new services and ecosystems to the platform.

The governance of the project is evolving to take into account the increasing role of the platform in the European AI strategy. In addition to the three initial boards (industrial, scientific, ethics), we will see three others playing an important role. The gender committee, whose kick-off took place during the General Assembly in Venice in January 2020, will address this vital dimension by proposing gender related priorities, measures and actions. The Educational Committee aims to introduce actions and directions in this area.

Ethics is a vital element of the project. The Ethics Observatory is now operational. Following the publication of the Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence by the High-Level Expert Group (HLEG), the project has created a dedicated team to perform deep-dive assessments (quantitative and qualitative) of European organizations to evaluate the EU ethical guidelines assessment list.

Other essential moves have been collectively decided, such as the event strategy. Initially, the plan was to organize 14 events across Europe to mobilize the ecosystem. However, it turned out that AI4EU partners, with the active support of the European Commission, participated in many events to promote the platform, decreasing the need to organize AI4EU's own events. Thus, the strategy is to have fewer but better and more impactful events.

Another ongoing step is the refining of our open call strategy. The rationale is to propose a strategy to use open calls as a lever to promote the platform and mobilize the ecosystem. The next steps will be to explain the approach and to ask partners of the project to propose challenges before opening this possibility to the whole ecosystem.

Finally, the project published a first version of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda in July 2019. The document is a short and high-level paper, stressing critical issues for Europe and positioning the AI on-demand platform as an enabler to address some challenges and contribute to possible solutions. The second version of this document is in progress and will need input from each partner and from the associated AI organizations.

All in all, the project momentum is growing. The second year of the project will be critical, as many features of the platform are going to be operational. The focus thus will be on the adoption of the platform by the targeted users: researchers and academics, developers, companies. More than ever, the commitment of all the partners will be essential to achieve our ambitious goals.