The EU has shifted its focus from regulating AI to actively fostering its growth, launching the 2025 AI Continent Action Plan alongside the newly enacted AI Act. A cornerstone of this strategy is a €200 billion public‑private fund called InvestAI, designed to finance large‑scale AI infrastructure and research. The plan also calls for establishing at least 15 AI Factories across 17 member states, providing the compute power and data resources needed to turn academic breakthroughs into commercial products.
Despite the ambitious funding, adoption remains modest. Only about 13.5 % of EU businesses were using AI in 2024, revealing a sizable gap between policy intent and market uptake. To bridge this divide, the Apply AI initiative pushes sector‑specific pilots in healthcare, energy, manufacturing and agriculture, while expanding talent pipelines through fellowships, apprenticeships and targeted programs for women in tech.
Structural obstacles continue to impede progress. Europe’s Single Market remains fragmented, with divergent national data‑sharing and procurement rules that hinder cross‑border scaling. Moreover, the bloc still depends heavily on non‑EU chipmakers and cloud providers, limiting its strategic autonomy. Addressing these issues will require harmonised standards, stronger domestic supply chains, and more efficient technology transfer from research labs to industry.
Overall, the Draghi report underscores a dual challenge: sustaining high‑level investment while tackling the regulatory and infrastructure bottlenecks that slow AI diffusion. If Europe can align its funding mechanisms, streamline cross‑border rules, and build a resilient tech base, the continent may yet transform its AI aspirations into tangible economic and societal benefits.
