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Abstract: In the current wave of AI innovation, the European Commission has defined Testing and Experimentation Facilities to be established to facilitate AI innovation in the context of new legislation such as the AI act. Within this paper, we investigate the CitCom.ai TEE in an attempt to link these TEFs to longer existing concepts such as testbeds, Living Labs and Regulatory Sandboxes. Our analysis reveals 7 service categories that can be linked to these three innovation concepts. In the 26 analysed experiments, there was a clear dominance of services linked to the concept of AI testbeds. In second place came three service categories that can be attributed to Living Labs. Remarkably, the service category linked to AI regulatory sandboxes appeared to be the least popular. This reflects the 'in development' status of this concept.
Keywords: TEF; AI; Living Labs; Testbeds; Regulatory Sandbox; AI innovator; Open Innovation; Smart Cities; Testing; Experimentation; Facility; AI act.
1 Introduction
In 2023, the European commission has officially launched four Testing and Experimentation Facilities (TEFs). These TEFs are defined as specialised large-scale reference sites open to all technology providers across Europe to test and experiment at scale state-of-the art AI solutions, including both soft- and hardware products and services, in real-world environments (European Commission, 2023). These TEFs are regarded as an important part of building the AI and robotics ecosystem of excellence and trust to support Europe's strategic leadership in AI. They are also designed to provide solutions in anticipation of the forthcoming EU regulations outlined in the Data Act and the AI Act.. CitCom.ai, one of four TEFs in operation, aims to bridge the gap between smart, sustainable cities and communities on one side and the AI innovators on the other. The goal of CitcCom.ai is to create TEF sites all over Europe that run commercial AI experimentation, testing and validation. These sites can take the shape of a private company, a public entity or a mix of both. The main goal is validation in real conditions of novel, next-generation, AI-powered robotics and Al-based automation, decision-support and decision-making tools in the smart city domain.
TEFs like CitCom.ai can be regarded as a response to two trends. First, there is the increasing need to test AI innovations in real-life, realistic,...