At their summit in Montreal, the EU and Canada launched a new partnership. Canada is joining the European supercomputing network EuroHPC, and test results for AI systems are to be mutually recognised in future.
On 30 October, at their 21st joint summit in Montreal, the European Union and Canada launched an Alliance for the Future. According to the joint statement, the aim is a common space for prosperity and economic security. According to tagesschau, both sides want to become less dependent on the USA and China.
On artificial intelligence, the statement covers safety, shared rules and computing power. The EU welcomes Canada's participation in the European supercomputing network EuroHPC. Both sides also want to cooperate on the so-called AI Factories and other large AI compute centres, with access above all for start-ups, small and medium-sized businesses, research and public authorities. They also want to work towards mutual recognition of test results for AI systems, as well as for digital identities and cybersecurity. Negotiations on a digital trade agreement have been concluded in substance.
Dispute over the name
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned in Montreal that Europe's industry depends on a few large companies for access to AI. Shortly before the summit, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that his government is putting 1.6 billion Canadian dollars into the domestic AI company Cohere. Cohere recently merged with the Heidelberg company Aleph Alpha.
The name caused debate. Von der Leyen had held out the prospect of an associate membership for Canada, but German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and other heads of government toned this down, and the term disappeared from the final statement. Carney said the name did not matter. The statement now says that by the 2027 summit an ever closer association of Canada with the EU is to be worked out, short of full membership.
For companies offering AI systems in Europe and Canada, mutual recognition of assessments could later save duplicate effort.