European Testing and Experimentation Facilities, xTEF, are open for Business.

The four European Testing and Experimentation Facilities (TEFs) announce their readiness for business on March 4 in Berlin! Please join the “All TEFs Open for Business” Event in Berlin, Germany with welcome messages from Franziska Giffey, Senator for Economy, Berlin, Germany, and Lucilla Sioli, Director “Artificial Intelligence and Digital Industry”, Directorate-General for Communication Networks, Content & Technology, EC.

„This is your chance to connect with like-minded individuals, learn from industry experts, and take your business to the next level. Get ready for a day filled with inspiring talks, interactive panels, and valuable networking opportunities“ says Petra Ritter, Professor at the Charité Unviersitätsmedizin Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health – the Hosting institution for the event. 

She is Coordinator of one of the four TEFs. TEFs Testing and Experimentation Facilities are specialised large-scale reference sites which help innovative technology providers bring their products from lab to market. They are funded by the European Commission and national member states with ca. €60 million each. Four TEFs started on January 1st, 2023, covering different sectors:

• Healthcare: TEF-Health
• Agri-Food: agrifoodTEF
• Manufacturing: AI-MATTERS
• Smart Cities & Communities: Citcom.AI

They jointly are inviting the AI community to celebrate their openness to business. TEFs offer primarily technical support to innovators to test their latest AI-based software and hardware technologies at scale in real-world environments (Technology Readiness Levels 6-8). This includes support for full integration, testing and experimentation of the latest mature AI-based technologies (already tested in the lab) to solve issues and improve solutions in a given application sector, including through validation and demonstration.

“The adoption of digital solutions in agriculture is key in addressing many of the challenges faced by this sector. If you are an SME, a Startup or a big organisation leveraging AI and Robotics to solve concrete farmers’ problems, reach out to our experts and make use of our extensive network of facilities across Europe. AgrifoodTEF services will give you a chance to strengthen your solutions before they hit the market” says Raffaele Giaffreda, coordinator of AgrifoodTEF.

Valentina Ivanova, AI-MATTERS coordinator says: “AI-MATTERS physical infrastructures are now offering about 290 services to manufacturing SMEs, please do not hesitate to get in contact with the Node coordinators”.

Martin Brynskov, Technical University of Denmark, coordinator and lead of the CitCom.ai TEF, says: “We are pleased to open the CitCom.ai testing and experimentation facilities (TEF) services for cities and communities. Our goal is to ensure that European big companies and SMEs have easier access to business development through standardised TEFs in a large number of European countries and provide with the safety and security of AI services that are rapidly transforming critical infrastructures in society. Thus, we are glad to offer developers and owners of AI technologies to effectively test their ideas and solutions before they are launched in society.”

TEF-Health coordinator Petra Ritter adds: “We now have an open Call on our website. Via this call, SMEs in the healthcare sector will receive our services at reduced costs or even for free in compliance with state aid regulations.”

By offering these technical testing services, TEFs seek to bring trustworthy Artificial Intelligence to market more quickly and improve its uptake in the EU Member States and Digital Europe Programme associated countries.

Come join all TEFs in Berlin

Date: March 4 2024

Venue: Langenbeck-Virchow-Haus, Luisenstraße 58/59, 10117 Berlin (Mitte), Germany

Details and Registration