Nevers study visit unleashes the power of AI for ENAIBLER

On the 25th and 26th of October, ENAIBLER project partner Nièvre Numérique hosted the 2nd study visit of ENAIBLER in Nevers, France.

For the first day project partners and stakeholders delved into the world of artificial intelligence (AI). Thomas Relin of Nièvre Numérique gave an amazing demonstration of the power of generative AI. It was based on a welcome video of a local government representative. Thomas had employed AI tools to translate sections from French into all the ENAIBLER partner languages of English, Polish, Spanish, Swedish. Additionally he found AI tools to create a script and advert using on the video!

We had fine inspiration from Victor Vila of ARNia (Regional Agency for Digital and AI of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region). Victor highlighted a range of regional AI use cases such as an AI solution to predict fire service emergency calls, monitoring meal consumption of hospital patients via computer vision and AI used to identify water leaks or illegal swimming pools. Victor also discussed AI limitations and data and concept drift.

We learned about AI's potential impact on the future of work from Yann Ferguson from LaborIA and how speculation on this topic has changed significantly over the last 10 years with the arrival of Generative AI. Yann emphasized that it is important to experiment and try out AI and also that it is AI is a dynamic ever-evolving technology so its impact on work must be a continuous effort.

ENAIBLER project partners from Skellefteå kommun shared their AI journey in public services showcasing an AI app solution for guiding the visually impaired around a public building. We also heard about AI use by the Swedish Tax authorities and LAIBAN, an app using AI and integrated to a range of services and aims to support children’s independence.

Ulf Hedestig from the Department of Informatics at Umeå University discussed co-creation as an innovation method to find out what AI can and cannot do for the public sector. Ulf emphasised communication and collaboration as key capabilities for the next paradigm noting that “ We don’t lose our jobs , we lose our job descriptions” with AI and suggesting that “Humans with AI will replace Humans without AI”.

During the afternoon, we visited DAVI The Humanizers and Yannick Gérard and Sébastien Biadudet presented Léa, a very human digital assistant solution that guides tourists in Nièvre. Other applications include training and coaching. Afterwards, we were again impressed with insights from the Municipality of Nevers and Vialytics France on their AI solution which identifies potholes via computer vision to support and streamline road network maintenance in Nevers.

On day 2 project partners and stakeholders attended the SIIViM summit on digital and innovation in medium-sized cities, where Margaret Quinn from ERNACT joined a round table on “AI ethics and use” to discuss AI's role in public service. As part of SIIViM, Thomas Relin from Nièvre Numérique hosted AI's impact on ecological transition conference, where François Reboul Salze of Purecontrol discussed AI technology used in sustainable water treatment, while Juliette Fropier from ECOLAB-Ministry of ecological transition talked about GreenAI.

We wrapped up with a "Roundtable on European Projects. Your turn now!" where ENAIBLER project partners discussed different European funded projects of their regions.

Thanks to our hosts Nièvre Numérique and all our partners and stakeholders for the fantastic 2 day event. Stay tuned for more innovations and collaborations ahead!