CECIMO wants public-/private-sector cooperation on development and deployment, removing barriers to data sharing, and “self-regulating” data portability



The European Association of Machine Tool Industries (CECIMO) completed its recent annual General Assembly with statement committing its membership to helping define and implement a program for expanding the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

CECIMO is a Brussels-based union of trade associations for over 1,500 companies across the European Union, companies who are responsible for 97% of machine-tool production in the 28-nation region.

Related: EU Machine Tool Builders See Growth, Seek ‘Freer’ Data

At the same time that it announced its new policy on AI and machine learning, CECIMO offered an encouraging economic outlook: it forecast that its machine tool building members are will report production volume of €24.4 billion in 2017, a 1.9% year/year increase on 2016. It added that its machine-tool producers have held more than 35% of the global market for their industry over the last three years, and will increase their production levels in 2018.

Germany remains the leading regional producer of machine tools (46.4%), followed by Italy (21%) and Switzerland (11%.)