RAi UK Joins the European Trustworthy AI Foundation: A Landmark Collaboration Driving Responsible AI Innovation Across Borders
Southampton, UK – May 05, 2025 – Responsible AI UK (RAi UK), the UK’s leading multidisciplinary network dedicated to advancing research and innovation in responsible AI, today announces a strategic partnership with the European Trustworthy AI Foundation. This collaboration marks the first membership of a leading scientific network to the newly established foundation, reinforcing RAi UK’s commitment to fostering an international ecosystem for Responsible AI research and innovation.
The partnership is formalised through a cooperation agreement between SystemX, coordinator of the European Trustworthy AI Foundation, and RAi UK, a consortium led by the University of Southampton. This alliance will strengthen the growing network of the UK-European stakeholders committed to addressing the growing challenges around trustworthy AI.
Professor Gopal Ramchurn, CEO of RAi UK, highlighted the significance of this partnership:
“This collaboration is a crucial step in our mission to connect UK research into Responsible AI with leading global organisations. By partnering with the European Trustworthy AI Foundation, we create a powerful cross-border alliance that will accelerate the development of best practices for designing, evaluating, regulating, and operating AI systems that truly benefit people, society, and our nations. Together, we’re building a framework for responsible innovation that transcends boundaries and establishes new international standards for trustworthy AI.”
The European Trustworthy AI Foundation has been created by the actors of the Confiance.ai program and is driven by IRT SystemX. This open-source foundation, launched alongside Air Liquide, Naval Group, Safran, Sopra Steria, and Thales, aims to bring together European (and global) stakeholders from industry, research, startups, and regulatory bodies. Its mission is to equip engineering teams with advanced, sustainable open-source tools and methodologies for trustworthy, secure, responsible, and regulation-compliant AI.
Nicolas Rebierre, General manager of the European Trustworthy AI Foundation, emphasized the importance of this collaboration as a meaningful step forward:
“This marks the first membership of a leading research and technology organization with the newly established foundation. By combining our complementary expertise and networks, this collaboration will act as a powerful catalyst for greater impact, aligned with our shared ambition to foster responsible AI for the benefit of both industry and the general public.”
This partnership directly supports RAi UK’s mission to deliver world-leading best practices for designing, evaluating, regulating, and operating AI systems in ways that benefit society. This collaboration will further enhance both RAi UK and the foundation position to:
- Connect UK research globally: Establishing stronger ties between UK research and European institutions, creating a robust international network for responsible AI development.
- Deliver interdisciplinary research: Combining technical expertise with social science perspectives to address complex socio-technical challenges in AI implementation.
- Translate research into practice: Developing tools, methodologies, and frameworks that help organizations implement responsible AI principles in real-world applications.
- Shape policy and standards: Working with regulators and policymakers to develop evidence-based frameworks that ensure AI benefits society while minimizing potential harms.
Immediate Collaboration Areas
RAi UK recently hosted a landmark event in collaboration with the European Trustworthy AI Foundation at London, ‘Global AI Responsibility: Policy, Innovation, and Ethics Across Borders’ bringing thought leaders from the UK and Europe to shape the future of responsible AI. For both the organisations, the event served a strong platform to initiate steps for a cooperation plan around nine key areas: dissemination of research results, open-source maintenance, expert support, research into industrial challenges, and participation in working groups focused on scientific advancement, standards development, training, communication, and ecosystem development.
Building on this initial momentum, the partners are already collaborating on the upcoming Trustworthy AI Summit in France, scheduled later this year on September 16, and are working together on the ATRASS seminar series (Artificial Intelligence Trustworthiness and Risk Assessment Scientific Seminars).
Through this partnership, RAi UK aims to establish a sustainable framework for international cooperation in responsible AI research and innovation, ensuring that AI technologies are developed and deployed in ways that align with societal values. By joining forces, The European Trustworthy AI foundation will be able to address complementary application sectors and work on a broader range of use cases consistent with its goal of engaging all segments of the economy.
About RAi UK
With a £35 million UKRI investment, RAi UK is a program dedicated to delivering interdisciplinary research and fostering an international ecosystem for Responsible AI research and innovation. Through extensive consultations across the UK, RAi UK has identified emerging challenges in responsible AI and has deployed over £17 million into projects aimed at accelerating the adoption of responsible AI practices and technologies. RAi UK brings research-based expertise that is connective, adaptive, and world-leading through field-building, and engagement with communities, publics, industries, and governments. RAi UK is led from the University of Southampton and backed by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), through the UKRI Technology Missions Fund and EPSRC. For more information or to get involved, please visit rai.ac.uk.
About the European Trustworthy AI Foundation
The European Trustworthy AI Foundation is a non-profit organization established by industrial leaders, building on the legacy of the Confiance.ai programme. It is on a mission to empower the industry with state of the art, open-source methodology and tools, enabling the engineering of AI-based systems that can be trusted and comply with regulations.
The foundation aims to be a driving force behind an ambitious European strategy for industrial and responsible AI. Its ambition is to propel Europe to the forefront of innovation in trustworthy AI, by making its methodologies and tools an international benchmark and thus, supporting the broader adoption of responsible AI in industry. In line with its mission, the foundation builds a European ecosystem of key players and initiatives in trustworthy AI – including large companies, SMEs, start-ups, research laboratories, educational institutions, regulatory and certification bodies – and invites all these stakeholders to participate in its action.
More information on: https://www.trustworthy-ai-foundation.eu/
Contact:
Kavita Mittal
K.Mittal@soton.ac.uk