Bucharest: In a pioneering move within one of the EU’s less digitally advanced economies, a Romanian state agency focused on rural investments has adopted artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline the application process for European Union funds among farmers.
The Agency for Financing Rural Investments (AFIR) revealed to international news agency Reuters that it embarked on this innovative approach over two years ago, leveraging robots developed by software automation company UiPath (PATH.N).
These AI-powered robots now handle the arduous task of accessing state databases to retrieve crucial land registry and judicial records required for farmers, entrepreneurs, and state institutions seeking EU funds.
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“AI-based automation plays an extremely important part in speeding key processes for farmers and making them more efficient,” remarked AFIR director George Chirita on the transformative impact of this technological integration.
Since the adoption of AI robots, AFIR has successfully managed financing requests amounting to 5.32 billion euros ($5.75 billion) from over 50,000 stakeholders, including farmers, companies, and local institutions. This innovative approach has notably saved AFIR staff approximately 784 days’ worth of document retrieval time.
Over the past two decades, AFIR has disbursed a substantial 21 billion euros in funds, marking a significant contribution to rural development in Romania.
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Despite Romania’s emergence as a burgeoning technology hub with a highly skilled workforce, the country continues to confront digitalization challenges, particularly in providing efficient digital public services to its citizens and businesses. Eurostat data underscores this gap, revealing that only 28% of Romanians possess basic digital skills, well below the EU average of 54%. Moreover, digital public services in Romania lag behind the EU average, ranking at 45 compared to 84.
UiPath, a Romanian tech giant valued at $13.3 billion following its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, has been instrumental in driving automation across various sectors. Apart from its collaboration with AFIR, UiPath has extended its automation services to farming agencies in countries such as Norway and the United States.
