Steph Locke Elected to EU Steering Committee for AI
CEO of Nightingale HQ Steph Locke has been elected as a Chairperson to the European DIGITAL SME Alliance AI Focus Group’s Steering Committee. The AI Focus Group helps tackle the problems of AI startups and SMEs, the adoption of AI by SMEs, and how EU regulation and policy impacts both groups of SMEs. The Steering Committee will help set the agenda for the broader group of ~100 SMEs involved in the focus group.
Many thanks to the support of Daniel Nepelski & Sarah De Nigris from the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC). Steph joins the following members of the Steering Committee
- Pr. Thomas Bäck, divis intelligent solutions GmbH
- Dr. Xenia Ziouvelou, NCSR “DEMOKRITOS"
- Lucía Laorden Zubimendi, Decidata, and Legal Hackers Bilbao
- Emilia Tantar, PhD, Black Swan LUX.
- Stelian BRAD, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
Learn more about European DIGITAL SME Alliance has launched a Focus Group Artificial Intelligence (AI).
FAQs
What does the Steering Committee do?
The European DIGITAL SME Alliance AI Focus Group brings together approximately 100 SMEs involved in AI development and adoption across Europe. The Steering Committee sets the agenda for this group — deciding which policy questions to prioritise, which regulatory issues to push back on, and how to represent the interests of AI SMEs and the SMEs that adopt AI in the EU policy-making process.
This matters because EU AI regulation — including the EU AI Act — is developed through a process that typically hears most clearly from large technology companies and academic research institutions. Ensuring that the perspective of SMEs — both those building AI products and those adopting them — is represented in that process is exactly the kind of work the AI Focus Group does.
Why Steph's election mattered?
Being elected to the Steering Committee is a recognition by peers — the other SMEs in the AI Focus Group — that Steph Locke brings relevant expertise and judgment to the policy questions the group is working on. Having built an AI company from the ground up, having helped hundreds of SMEs understand and adopt AI tools, and having engaged with the practical barriers to AI adoption in real businesses, she brings a grounded perspective that is distinct from both the large tech company view and the academic view.
The Steering Committee membership also gave Nightingale HQ direct access to European Commission staff, including the JRC researchers who provide the technical and analytical support to EU AI policy. Those connections are valuable for a company whose work intersects with AI policy questions around transparency, explainability, and the governance of AI systems used in industrial settings.