AI is rapidly evolving from a specific digital technology into a systemic technology that is transforming the economy, government, and society. This offers opportunities for productivity and innovation, but also raises questions about human dignity, autonomy, work, public values, and the distribution of economic benefits. 
 
Meanwhile, Europe is shifting from drafting AI regulations to implementing them. The AI Act, technical standards, and a new supervisory system must now be put into practice within organizations and markets. Europe faces the challenge of aligning its values with innovation, competitiveness, and strategic autonomy. 

What the AI Act Means in Practice 

Organizations must translate European regulations and technical standards into concrete governance structures, processes, and measures. There is a significant gap between legal norms and everyday practice. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups with limited legal, technical, and compliance capacity, this complexity leads to high burdens, uncertainty, or delays in AI investments. Regulators face the other side of the same problem. They need insight into how rules and standards work in practice. 

Vision 

AIC4NL’s WNR work area focuses on the conditions under which AI can be developed and applied responsibly. We connect academia, government, regulators, the business community, and civil society organizations, and translate current developments into concrete knowledge, practices, policy recommendations, and programs. By the end of 2027, organizations should be able to apply regulations in a practical manner, and policy and oversight should contribute more effectively to Dutch and European AI innovation. 

At our organization, lawyers, engineers, regulators, researchers, and businesses all sit at the same table. We take what we gather from the sectors and feed it into policy and regulation, and we translate what’s developed there back into something you can quickly put into practice.

Frans van Bruggen, WNR Practice Leader.