Around 50 Polish companies are participating in the country’s AI Chamber. The AI Chamber is a newly established lobbying group aimed at promoting the responsible development of AI across Central and Eastern Europe.
Poland is well-known for having top-notch technology talent, but the AI startup ecosystem lags behind other Western countries due to a lack of funding from local venture capital and political and cultural issues. . Some globally successful companies have Polish ties, like his voice AI startup Eleven Labs, for which he recently raised an $80 million round from A16 and Sequoia. However, most domestic venture companies are still in the early stages.
This new group was created to help these companies network, lobby for more favorable policies, and better understand European and national regulations regarding AI. The group includes dozens of startups, including space scaleup Icey and fintech Finiata.
“We need an independent body that can bring together different groups with different interests, such as small and medium-sized enterprises, start-ups and NGOs, to exchange ideas on AI,” said the head of the industry lobby Startup Poland and head of the New Chamber of Commerce. CEO Tomasz Snajk said: .
What will the AI Chamber focus on?
He said its main focus is on the “social impact” of AI and the “responsible development” of AI across the region.
The chamber’s planned activities include conducting research on the CEE market, publishing a report on AI implementation, and attempting to expand the use of AI solutions in different sectors of the economy.
In the short term, the Chamber will, for example, work on the creation and research of working groups focused on how to use AI to improve education and health systems across the MENA region. He also wants to study how AI can help with entrepreneurship and policy-making across the region.
For now, the chamber is made up of Polish technology companies, start-ups, NGOs and associations, but it hopes to expand its reach to other countries in the region. Snajk says he is already looking to the Czech Republic, where he sees the biggest startup potential.
He hopes to quadruple membership in the next year.
This is not the first startup-led AI initiative in Poland. Earlier this year, a team of entrepreneurs, including Google X and SpaceX alumni and local AI startup founders, established an AI working group at the country’s Digital Ministry. However, the group was heavily criticized for not including any NGO or university representatives on its team.
“We’re building it for a much longer period of time, not just one political term,” Snajczyk said. “It’s not a group tied to a particular time or parliamentary term, and we don’t want to be dependent on any politician.”
