At World AI Festival Minister Roth Proclaims ‘Europe Must Regain Its Audacity’

On Thursday 13 February 2025, Luxembourg’s Minister of Finance, Giles Roth, opened the World Artificial Intelligence Festival 2025 (WAICF) in Cannes, France.

Luxembourg’s Ministry of Finance reported that, as part of the festival, the EuropAI Institute and the Cloud Community Europe – Luxembourg (CCEL) signed a memorandum of understanding in the presence of the minister. This protocol concerns the transformation of the CCEL into a Luxembourg chapter of AI Europe. Minister Roth stated that he “welcomes EuropAI’s decision to set up in Luxembourg with the ambition of developing new activities in the field of artificial intelligence.”

In his speech, Minister Roth advocated a pioneering Europe, saying: “Artificial intelligence must be on a human scale. Europe has all the assets necessary to innovate. But Europe must regain its audacity. This is how we will attract the necessary investments. Luxembourg can play a role here as a global gateway, particularly for innovative companies in the field of finance."

Following the opening speeches, including one delivered by the French Minister Delegate responsible for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technology, Clara Chappaz, Minister Roth inaugurated the Luxembourg stand set up under the coordination of the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology (LHoFT). The stand, one of 220 at the festival, brought together around 60 representatives of Luxembourg companies. 

The day before, on Wednesday 12 February 2025, Minister Roth visited the innovation hub in Sophia Antipolis, known for its high-level and practice-oriented research. He then went to Accenture Labs to discover its new concepts and then visited the citizen projects of the Maison de l'Intelligence Artificielle, in Biot. During the visit he proclaimed: “Europe is capable of innovating, in theory and in practice. And there is also great potential for cooperation with Luxembourg.”

Prior to this, on Tuesday 11 February 2025, the minister attended a conference on the challenges of AI regulation, organised jointly with the University of Luxembourg at the Côte d'Azur University in Nice (France), speaking out in favour of “a fair balance between the protection of citizens and innovation for the economy”, advocating for AI that is a win-win for all.

After an introductory speech by Minister Roth, a debate took place between professors from both universities. Among them were Jean-Louis Schiltz, Marc Cole and Elise Poillot from the University of Luxembourg as well as Simone Vannuccini and Godefroy de Boiscuillé from the Côte d’Azur University. In this academic setting, Minister Roth further emphasised the importance of research for the future of Europe.

SM