The situation of Spain together with that of other surrounding countries has been analysed through different studies. A recent OECD report31 indicates that private equity investment in start-ups focused on AI in Spain between 2011 and mid 2018 is 3% of the total amount invested in start-ups based in the EU, well behind France (13%), Germany (14%) or the United Kingdom (55%). According to the study carried out by the consulting firm Roland Berger “Joining the dots- A map of Europe ́s AI Ecosystem”32, the four most important AI countries in Europe are the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain, which contribute 60% of start-ups, laboratories and communities33 of the 30 countries analysed (EU, plus Switzerland and Norway).Although the first three countries alternate in terms of the different measures used (for example, the United Kingdom clearly stands out in the number of start-ups and France in the number of laboratories), Spain ranks fourth, closely followed by countries classified in the group of emerging countries as the so-called “followers”. These data show that there is ample room for improvement with a better system of cooperation between agents and that the technological investment made so far in Spain is insufficient and that, in short, without solving these two aspects there will not be a favourable environment for AI technologies in our country. However, the situation in the EU is also not very encouraging when we observe that these EU investments account for 8% of global investment in 2017 (China and the US account for almost 85% of investment).Despite this, the European Commission's The European AI Landscape34 report gives evidence of Europe's leading role in being “at the forefront of AI and robotics, as evidenced by the excellent scientific position of European researchers, including several world experts in AI from Europe.”This European situation, characterized by insufficient public and private investment in a context of a global race to develop and incorporate AI technologies in the different areas of socio-economic impact, requires Spain to play a leading role, as is expected of our capabilities, with AI research groups of excellent international level, and where most universities already offer relevant engineering programs. University training in AI has some of the oldest and most consolidated postgraduate, masters and doctoral programs in Europe with more than 3 decades of history. According to RD 1393/200735 and RD 99/201136, which regulate official university and doctoral education, there are 11 current Master Courses and 2 doctoral programmes, although there are other official programs that include the study of AI in their curricula.
Debt and Private Investment: Does the EU Suffer from a Debt Overhang?
