Biography: 

Dr Cécile Huet is Deputy Head of the Unit “Robotics and Artificial Intelligence” at the European Commission. This unit funds and assists beneficial robotics and AI developments within Europe. The unit is in charge of one of the world’s largest civilian programme in robotics with a budget of €700 million EU funding from Horizon 2020, supplemented by €2.1 billion from the European robotics industry in the context of the Robotics Public-Private Partnership. The unit is coordinating the preparation of the AI activities in the next funding programmes, Horizon Europe and Digital Europe programmes. Currently the unit is working with the stakeholders on the next Partnership on AI, data and Robotics, defining the strategic research, development, innovation and deployment for Europe in these fields. Moreover, this unit is at the heart of the Communication on Artificial Intelligence for Europe, the Coordinated Plan on Artificial Intelligence and the Communication on Building Trust in Human-Centric Artificial Intelligence. Cécile joined the unit since its creation in 2004. Previously, she worked for the industry in signal processing after a post-doc at the University of California Santa Barbara and a PhD at University of Nice Sophia Antipolis.