World Café Cross-Border Applied AI Joint Research, Innovation and Startup Communities: Turn Expertise into Practical Next Steps for International AI Collaboration.
Abstract
The World Café gathered researchers, startups, policymakers, SMEs and civil‑society representatives to explore how AI can serve as a coordination layer across nations while respecting sovereignty. After a four‑minute opening pitch by Alexandra Bech Gjørv on the shift of AI from “smart models” to a societal coordination infrastructure, participants moved through three thematic rounds covering trust & shared opportunities, collaboration models, and technology openness versus sovereignty. The session concluded with a collective call‑to‑action: contributors will be credited as co‑authors of a four‑page policy brief that will inform the India AI Impact Summit’s deliberations.
Detailed Summary
- The facilitator framed the World Café as a collective‑intelligence exercise:
- Goal – generate concrete, sovereignty‑aware pathways for international AI research, innovation and startup ecosystems.
- Outcome – a four‑page policy brief co‑authored by all contributors, to be submitted to the India AI Impact Summit.
- Structure explained:
- No formal “table rotation” because of time constraints.
- Participants will self‑assign a table host to keep the conversation inclusive.
- Insights should be captured in a shared QR‑linked document.
- The agenda was laid out in four phases: Purpose → Practice → Action, with lightning pitches from four speakers leading each discussion round.
2. Lightning Pitch – Alexandra Bech Gjørv (4:30‑12:00)
Key Themes
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AI as a Coordination Layer
- AI is moving beyond isolated optimization; it now helps complex socio‑technical systems (energy grids, logistics, climate response) coordinate in real time.
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Agency vs. Access
- “Agency” means that each nation or community can shape AI behaviour, not just consume it.
- Without agency, countries become passive participants in externally designed coordination systems.
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National‑Scale Capacity Building (India Example)
- India’s investment in domestic compute, language‑specific models, and data illustrates how capacity building enables agency in public‑service, agriculture and industry applications.
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Risk of Misaligned AI Ecosystems
- When AI systems trained under different regulatory, infrastructural, or data regimes interact, systemic instability can arise (e.g., an AI that optimises a stable European grid may malfunction when linked to an Indian grid with different constraints).
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Shared Mechanisms, Not Centralised Control
- Proposes digital sandboxes, physical labs, interoperability standards, cross‑border validation, and mutual safety principles as tools for safe collaboration while preserving local sovereignty.
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SINTEF Initiatives
- Read – builds coordination into operations via feedback loops.
- Enfield – ensures trustworthy, energy‑efficient AI across domains.
- Data PACT – governance layer for responsible data sharing.
- Edito – shared digital infrastructure for joint decision‑making.
- OpenMOD for Africa – a pilot that lets eight African nations co‑ordinate energy and development decisions with common tools.
Closing Note
- A invitation for India to join the European Framework Programme for Research as an enabler for deeper collaboration.
- Brief mention of future topics (digital twins of oceans, supply‑chain sustainability) that were curtailed due to time.
3. Transition to First Round of World Café (12:00‑13:30)
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Facilitator thanked Alexandra and announced the first discussion round (≈10 minutes).
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Guiding question:
“How do we manage different interests across research, startups, government and large firms while still collaborating effectively across borders?”
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Focus areas stipulated: trust across jurisdictions, data sharing, intellectual‑property (IP) safeguards, accountability, and inclusion of SMEs/startups.
4. First Round – Table‑Level Dialogue (13:30‑~23:00)
Because the transcript becomes fragmented after this point, the summary captures the discernible ideas and themes that emerged from the participants’ contributions.
4.1 Trust & Sovereignty
- Agency & Local Adaptation – Re‑iterated that participants need the ability to question AI outputs and adapt models to local realities.
- Mutual Safety Principles – Proposals for a shared set of safety guidelines that each partner signs onto before deploying cross‑border AI services.
4.2 Data & IP
- Federated Data Spaces – Discussion of secure, privacy‑preserving data exchanges (e.g., data‑clean rooms, federated learning) that keep raw data within national borders while still allowing joint model training.
- IP Compartments – Suggestion to create “IP buffers” where jointly‑developed components are licensed under open‑source or royalty‑free terms for public‑good applications, while commercial‑grade IP remains protected.
4.3 Inclusion of Start‑ups & SMEs
- Funding Mechanisms – Call for cross‑border venture funds (e.g., co‑managed by European and Indian agencies) that target early‑stage AI start‑ups working on interoperability or sand‑boxing tools.
- Mentorship Networks – Propose a tri‑regional mentorship program linking European, Indian and African founders with experienced researchers and industry partners.
4.4 Practical Enablers
- Digital Sandboxes & Testbeds – Consensus that joint simulation environments (both virtual and physical) are essential for stress‑testing AI models under diverse regulatory and market conditions.
- Interoperability Standards – Advocacy for open‑source APIs and data‑format standards (e.g., OGC, ISO‑AI) as the technical lingua franca for cross‑border AI services.
- Policy Alignment – Emphasis on aligning regulatory sandboxes (e.g., India’s “Regulatory Sandbox” and Europe’s “AI‑Act pilots”) to avoid duplicated compliance burdens.
4.5 Emerging Ideas (Fragmented Segment)
- A participant mentioned an “AI Hiccup Factory” initiative spanning Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Sweden, aimed at public‑private collaboration on AI reliability.
- Reference to University‑level projects in Morocco and industrial‑clinic collaborations, suggesting a broader global network of research hubs.
- Several participants voiced enthusiasm for AI Silk Roads – a metaphor for linking governmental, startup, and venture‑capital ecosystems across continents (later to be expanded by Anand Kamannavar).
5. Closing & Next Steps (≈23:00‑end)
- Facilitator announced that insights captured in the shared document would be synthesised into the policy brief.
- A reminder that all contributors will be acknowledged as co‑authors and invited to further workshops.
- Brief preview of the upcoming rounds (collaboration models – Anil Sharma; technology openness vs. sovereignty – Pasi Toivanen; AI Silk Roads vision – Anand Kamannavar) – though the transcript does not contain the full content of those pitches.
Key Takeaways
- AI is evolving into a coordination layer for critical societal systems; this shift demands new governance models that preserve national agency while enabling cross‑border interaction.
- Sovereignty‑aware collaboration requires shared testing environments (digital/physical sandboxes), interoperability standards, and mutual safety principles rather than a single global authority.
- Capacity building (local compute, data, talent) is essential; without it, nations risk being passive “coordinated‑by‑elsewhere” participants.
- Trust mechanisms—including federated data spaces, IP buffers, and joint safety guidelines—are critical to align diverse regulatory and market contexts.
- Start‑ups and SMEs must be deliberately included via cross‑border venture funds, mentorship networks, and open‑source tooling to ensure an innovative ecosystem.
- Concrete next step: All discussion points will be compiled into a four‑page policy brief, co‑authored by participants, to feed into the India AI Impact Summit’s deliberations.
- Future themes (to be addressed in later rounds) will explore collaboration models, technology openness vs. sovereignty, and the broader AI Silk Roads vision linking government, industry, and venture ecosystems across continents.
Prepared from the verbatim transcript of the World Café session at the India AI Impact Summit, Delhi, 2024.
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