The Basque Artificial Intelligence Center (BAIC) has presented the first Diagnosis of the situation of the Artificial Intelligence in Euskadi. A report that evaluates the current state and future potential of the AI ecosystem in the country and has revealed that the adoption of this technology already reaches 12.2% from Basque companies and arrives at 16.4% in public administrations.
The advance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is unstoppable and its applications in life and business activity are multiplying. For this reason, the Basque Government is preparing a long term action plan and as a preliminary step, it has made a diagnosis of the situation, which shows that “Euskadi has the potential to become an international benchmark in this matter”, as stated by the Minister of Industry, Energy Transition and Sustainability of the Executive, Mikel Jauregi.
The study highlights that 12.2% of companies in the Basque Country use AI technologies and its application reaches 16.4% in public administrations. Therefore, there is still a wide room for growthbut a few months ago that figure was 9%.
However, the diversity of AI use cases in Euskadi identified and characterized is significant, with more than 400 cases registered, which shows an active and documented exploration of AI applications in various areas, such as professional, scientific and technical activitieswhere the percentage reaches 25%, and in the information and communications, 24%.
Regarding the economic impact, the turnover of companies providing AI solutions reached 105 million euros, while user companies have seen an average increase of 9% in your income by the incorporation of AI technologies.
In terms of employment, more than 7,500 professionals work in this ecosystem in Euskadi, representing 0.7% of the active population. Of these, 17% are dedicated to research, while The remaining 83% are integrated into the business sector.
Euskadi has more than 35 programs regulated courses that add up to more than 34,000 hours of teaching. This translates into more than 900 annual graduates specialized in AI. In addition, there are numerous non-formal training programs available.
For its development, artificial intelligence requires technological infrastructure. At present, Euskadi has six high performance computing centers (HPC) and will have one more quantum computing center in 2025, and an additional supercomputer planned for 2026.
In addition, there are 12 private and eight public and semi-public data centers in operation. A great project in this sense will be that of Euskadi Atlantic Data Infrastructure data center (ADI), promoted by Euskaltel, Grupo Teknei, Dominion and the Basque Government, which Iberdrola and Kutxabank want to join.
Purposeful use
From BAIC, its director, Laura Marrón, has called “not only to use AI but to know how and why to do it.” “Whether you are just starting out or already making progress in AI adoption, your contribution is essential to accelerate or consolidate this moment of transformation“
At the moment BAIC has 16 promoting entitieswith the institutional leadership of the Basque Government, plus 44 other partner entities, as well as other collaborating entities. The center is open to the incorporation of new allies committed to development and competitiveness, for which it calls on companies and other agents to join and contribute to the promotion of AI, thus consolidating a prosperous future for Euskadi.
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