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The EU Commission plans to make the EU a global leader in artificial intelligence through its recently published AI continent action plan. The plan includes five areas in which the Commission will use existing or new measures and initiatives to promote the development and use of AI within the European Union.
What: Policy orienting document
Impactscore: 3
For Who: Policy makers, AI developers
URL: https://commission.europa.eu/t...
Key takeaways for Flanders: Policy makers can use this action plan to prepare for the proposed supportive measures and to inform relevant companies in their country. AI developers can use the proposed measures and initiatives, such as the AI factories, in their development strategy.
The EU Commission has published its AI continent action plan with the goal of making the EU a leading continent in artificial intelligence (AI). The action plan sets out five key domains in which the EU will take measures to achieve this goal. These five key domains identified by the Commission are: (1) computing infrastructure, (2) high-quality data for AI, (3) AI development and adoption, (4) the EU talent base and (5) the single EU market.
The Commission aims to scale up the EU’s public AI infrastructure by both strengthening the network of AI factories in the existing European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (“EuroHPC”) and establishing Gigafactories. Additionally, the Commission plans to facilitate private-sector investment in cloud capacity and sustainable data centres.
The AI factories initiative was already announced in the 2024 AI innovation package and integrates AI-optimised supercomputers with data, programming facilities and human capital into an ecosystem within the EuroHPC joint undertaking. Nine new AI-optimised supercomputers would be deployed across the EU in 2025-2026 based on this initiative. The EuroHPC joint undertaking will be the single-entry point for EU users to receive access to computing time from, and support by, any EuroHPC AI factory. These factories are open to European users (including AI developers, academia, etc.) from various sectors. Member states can also establish AI factory antennas that provide remote access to AI-optimised supercomputing in another member state. Additionally, new tailored access rules will prioritise access of AI innovators and certain EU-funded research projects.
The EU will also invest in AI Gigafactories, which would provide even greater computing power and even more AI processors to develop and train complex AI models. These Gigafactories will be federated with the EuroHPC network of AI factories. In support of the design and manufacturing of more AI processors, strategic autonomy in AI semiconductor production will also be a priority in the review of the Chips act. To fund the establishment of the AI Gigafactory, the Commission launched the InvestAI facility to gather 20 billion euro investments in a public-private partnership. In line with this initiative, a call for interest for consortia to set up AI Gigafactories was launched and an official call for participation will be launched in Q4 2025.
In addition to these factories, the Commission also aims for the private sector to shore up other AI-related capacity gaps such as cloud computing and edge computing capacity. Specifically, dependence on non-EU infrastructure (data centres) should be reduced. The cloud and AI development Act will incentivise investments in cloud and edge capacity with the goal to meet the EU’s needs by 2035 and by already tripling the EU’s data centre capacity in the next 5 to 7 years. Data centre projects that meet resource efficiency and innovation requirements will benefit from simplified permitting and other public support under this act. The EU will support these new data centres with measures in the energy and water sectors. Highly critical use cases will also be able to rely on highly secure EU-based cloud capacity under the act. Finally, the Act will look into a common EU marketplace for cloud capacity and services and is open to stakeholder input as part of a public consultation.
The Commission will work towards a new Data Union Strategy to make data available for AI development and innovation. This strategy will focus on enhancing interoperability and data availability across sectors and to align data policies with the needs of business, public sector and society. Existing data legislation will be streamlined to reduce complexity and administrative burdens and to ensure effective and efficient data governance structures. Data Labs will also be created as part of the AI factories initiative. The Labs will gather and federate data from different AI Factories covering the same sectors and will link with Common European Data Spaces to make data available to AI developers. Additionally, data labs will offer other services such as dataset cleaning, technical tools, sector interoperability and data pooling, building on the Data Governance Act framework for data intermediaries. The Commission will also develop a shared cloud software called Simpl to connect data spaces. Examples of the intended increased data sharing can be found in the area of language data (e.g. the alliance for language technologies), health (e.g. in the European Health data space), and research and innovation (e.g. the European Open Science Cloud). The Data Union Strategy will be open for public consultation by stakeholders.
The Commission will launch an “apply AI Strategy” to boost AI adoption and innovation. The strategy will target leading EU industrial sectors such as advanced manufacturing, aerospace, agri-food, biotech, etc. Additionally, the public sector will also be a driver of the strategy in areas such as healthcare, justice and education. The strategy will address sector-specific challenges and determine policy instruments to facilitate the adoption of AI solutions. The EU AI Office will also set up an observatory to monitor developments and implementation. Stakeholders can share their views on the Apply AI strategy through a public consultation.
The European Digital Innovation Hubs will also refocus to support adoption of AI by SME’s, mid-caps and public administrations. In December 2025 the hubs will become experience centres for AI and work with the AI factories ecosystem to promote AI uptake, access to computing and data resources of AI factories and other initiatives such as regulatory sandboxes and (real-world) testing and experimentation facilities.
Finally, the Commission will continue existing efforts in the AI innovation package and the GenAI4EU initiative to promote AI uptake. Additionally, four pilot project in the public sector will aim to accelerate the deployment of genAI solutions in public administrations. To complement those initiatives, investments will be made in foundational research through the European AI Research Council in the form of a Resource for AI Science in Europe (RAISE). RAISE will pool resources to facilitate scientific breakthroughs and will be further developed based on public consultations. The Apply AI strategy will include science as a vertical sector and link to the AI in Science strategy for responsible and swift adoption of AI by scientists.
The EU aims to address any talent shortages and skill mismatches under the Apply AI Strategy by growing the EU’s pool of AI specialists and by upskilling or reskilling workers in the use of AI.
The Commission takes several actions to enlarge the EU’s talent pool. The 2030 roadmap on the future of digital education and skills and the AI in education initiative should help to support AI literacy in primary and secondary education. The Commission will support the increase in EU bachelors, master's degrees and PhD programmes in key technologies and promote such programs. It will launch the AI skills academy, providing education and training on the development and deployment of AI. Among other initiatives are returnship schemes for female professionals, skills competitions and AI fellowship schemes. The commission also seeks to attract students and researchers from non-EU countries through measures in the upcoming Visa strategy and the Bluecard Directive, including a Marie Sklodowska-curie action scheme. Finally, the EU Talent Pool and the first multipurpose legal gateway offices should boost the attraction and retention of non-EU talent.
The Commission also plans to upskill and reskill the EU workforce. European Digital Innovation hubs will offer skill and training services in this regard and the Commission will further raise awareness on AI literacy and foster dialogue on AI for all.
The adopted AI Act should create the conditions for a well-functioning single market for AI as well as ensure that AI in the EU is safe, respects fundamental rights and is of high quality. The Commission and Member States will step up their efforts to facilitate the smooth application of the AI Act. The Commission is launching an AI Act service desk, a central information hub for the AI Act with free access to information and guidance. This service desk will complement the European digital Innovation Hubs and the national AI regulatory sandboxes as a support measure. The Commission further support the regulation through the AI Pact, allowing direct engagement with stakeholders, and through the provision of guidance such as implementing acts and guidelines. The development of standards for the AI Act will also be accelerated together with the responsible organisations (i.e. CEN/CENELEC). The Apply AI strategy public consultation includes specific questions on the challenges of AI Act implementation to identify regulatory uncertainty and ascertain how stakeholders can be better supported.
The five-pronged approach set out by the EU Commission aims to accelerate the EU's AI policies and innovation by combining a set of new and existing initiatives. The Commission in particular stresses the need for EU institutions, governments, companies, researchers and developers to coordinate to achieve this goal. Whether the proposed measures and this coordination will suffice to achieve this goal will be decided in the coming years. Each new initiative is still subject to public consultation and may therefore be adjusted by the Commission based on the received feedback. The final versions of these initiatives should provide stakeholders with more clarity on the benefits and opportunities that they can make use of.
