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The European Union has just adopted this April the “AI Continent Action Plan” in view of positioning the Union as an AI global partner. The EU’s main leverage in this endeavor is through the legal and managerial means as presently, around 85% of all AI systems remain unregulated and not subject to any rules; remaining 15% in the EU wants to achieve maximum of simplicity. This ambitious initiative to transform European exceptional talent pool into powerful engines of AI innovation and acceleration was set up at Paris AI Action Summit this February.
Background
In January 2024, the Commission launched a package of measures to support European startups and SMEs in the development of trustworthy AI. On 9 July 2024 the amended EuroHPC JU Regulation entered into force, allowing the set-up of AI Factories. In August 2024 the AI Act entered into force and guidelines on prohibited AI practices were published.
In December 2024, seven consortia were selected to establish AI Factories, followed by six additional consortia in March 2025. At the AI Action Summit in Paris on 11 February 2025, President von der Leyen announced InvestAI, an initiative to mobilise a €200 billion investment in AI across Europe.
Reference to: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_1013
In the EU digital Commissioner’s opinion, Europe has “an unparalleled pool of top talents”, i.e. EU’s universities and research institutions are among the best in the world: the EU-27 is having today 30% more AI researchers than in the US. Besides, the EU has a vibrant ecosystem of dynamic startups that are driving key innovations in the development of AI frontier models and in applications across various sectors, from healthcare to robotics to manufacturing.
However, the AI system in Europe is lagging behind those in the US and China and other competing partners.
On AI Action Plan in: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/ai-continent-action-plan
Plan’s main features
AI Continent Action Plan focuses on 5 main key areas:
= First, enhancing AI infrastructure in the EU, based on creating a dozen of so-called AI factories; setting up AI “gigafactories” will accumulate necessary investments, mainly through public-private partnerships and other funding mechanisms. With this in mind, together with the present action the Commission is launching a call for interest for gigafactories to test the interest both from the member states and private/corporate investors to in these projects. Besides, the Commission has announced the launch of the InvestAI Facility, with an aim of mobilizing about € 20 billion investment in AI infrastructure, targeting up to 5 initial AI Gigafactories across the EU-27. To stimulate private sector investment in cloud capacity and data centers, the EU will draft a Cloud and AI Development Act with the goal of at least triple the EU’s data centre capacity in the next five-seven years, prioritizing highly sustainable data centers.
More in: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_339
= Second, improving general access to high-quality data; as key initiatives, it will be established a so-called “data labs” to become an integral component of AI Factories by enabling provision, pooling and secure sharing of data. A comprehensive Data Union Strategy will be launched in 2025 to create a true internal market for data that can scale up AI solutions.
= Third, boosting AI adoption in strategic EU sectors. Today only 13% of EU companies use AI and the sector needs acceleration to adapt to increasing productivity while creating new products and services. The public sector shall be addressed first, where in area like healthcare, AI can bring transformative benefits. The European Digital Innovation Hubs will play an important role in the new “Apply AI Strategy”.
More in: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/edihs.
= Fourth, focusing on strengthening AI skills and talent across EU states by further developing excellence in AI education and the research ecosystem, raising awareness of AI across European societies and facilitating legal immigration pathways for non-EU highly skilled workers and to attract EU skilled researchers. A pilot project shall be launched for talented workers wishing to join the AI Academy, in connection with the AI Factories. The AI Skills Academy will also develop educational and training programs on AI and Generative AI in key sectors, preparing the next generation of AI specialists and supporting the upskilling and reskilling of workers.
= Fifth, new action plan is focusing on measures minimizing regulatory burden and guaranteeing a simple and innovation friendly implementation of the main AI Act through, for example, some guidance documents, standards and a code of practice.
Additionally, the action plan also announces the opening in July 2025 an AI Service Desk to answer questions that stakeholders might have on the AI Act. It will be an essential tool, saving companies from having to pay for legal advice.
The Commission has invited to Brussels representatives of all the 13 AI Factories as well as SMEs working in AI sector to discuss the perspectives of the action plan’s implementation. As a consequence, the Commission will start an AI Factory Tour, first in Luxembourg (through Luxprovide service in April, followed by Jupiter in JulichAI (Germany) and CinecaAI in Bologna (Italy).
Main reference to: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/da/speech_25_1022
More information in the following Commission’s web-links: = Factsheet; = Questions and Answers; = AI Continent Action Plan; = Apply AI strategy public consultation; = Cloud and AI Development Act public consultation; and = Call for Interest for Gigafactories.