The State of European AI Talent

This page is part of The Global AI Talent Tracker.

Viewed as a collective, Europe stands alongside the United States and China as one of the three powerhouses of top-tier AI research. But which European countries act as the source of this talent? And where do those top AI researchers work today? 

Note: We define Europe as all countries that are part of the European Union as of March 1, 2020, as well as Switzerland. This list notably excludes the United Kingdom. Any country with a raw author total below 10 is grouped into Others, unless otherwise noted.

Where do top-tier European AI researchers come from?
Note: Country affiliations are based on where the researchers received their undergraduate degree within Europe. Shares for Belgium and Spain are based on smaller counts compared to other questions in the study.

France is the largest source of top-tier AI researchers from Europe, followed by Germany, Italy, Belgium and Spain. Others collects the rest of this talent pool, with the Netherlands, Greece and Switzerland contributing the largest shares.

Where do top-tier AI researchers in Europe work today?
Note: Country affiliations are based on the geographic location of the researchers within Europe, not their institution’s headquarters. Share for Switzerland is based on smaller counts compared to other questions in the study.

France is the largest hub of top-tier AI researchers in Europe, followed by Germany and Switzerland. The large Others category in the corresponding chart illustrates that the remaining pool of AI researchers is spread out over many European countries.

Do top-tier AI researchers in Europe work in academia or industry?
Note: Current graduate students are excluded.

Almost one-third of top-tier AI researchers in Europe work in industry, with the rest working in universities or research centers.

Where do the most elite (top 0.5%) AI researchers in Europe work today?
Note: Data from authors of papers selected for Oral Presentations at NeurIPS 2019 (acceptance rate of 0.5%). Country affiliation based on geographic location of the researcher, not their institution’s headquarters.

Papers selected for Oral Presentations at NeurIPS 2019 represent the most elite papers at this already elite conference. The majority of European researchers with papers in this category work in France, with the Netherlands and Sweden in a distant second and third.

Where do the most elite (top 0.5%) AI researchers in Europe come from?
Note: Data from authors of papers selected for Oral Presentations at NeurIPS 2019. Country affiliations are based on where the researchers received their undergraduate degree.

France is also on top of this category, with nearly one-third of the most elite AI researchers in Europe having received undergraduate degrees in France. Germany is the next largest source country, followed by the Netherlands and Greece.