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The European Commission releases its plan to position Europe as a global leader in AI

The European Commission releases its plan to position Europe as a global leader in AI

The AI Continent Action Plan aims to turn Europe’s industrial strength and talent into a global advantage

The European Commission has officially launched the AI Continent Action Plan, an ambitious initiative to position Europe as a global leader in Artificial Intelligence. It builds on the announcement made by President Ursula von der Leyen at the AI Action Summit in Paris, where she presented the InvestAI, a €200 billion effort to scale up AI investment across the EU.

Introduced by the Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, the plan outlines how Europe can build on its industrial base and skilled workforce to support the development of these technologies.

The strategy is built around five key pillars:

1. Building a large-scale AI computing infrastructure

  • Establishment of 13 AI Factories to support startups, researchers, and industry.
  • Creation of up to 5 AI Gigafactories with massive computing capacity for training complex models.
  • €20 billion in private investment mobilised through InvestAI.
  • Introduction of the Cloud and AI Development Act to triple EU data centre capacity, with a focus on sustainability.

2. Increasing access to high-quality data

  • Development of Data Labs to curate and structure high-quality datasets.
  • Launch of a Data Union Strategy to enable an internal market for data across the EU.

3. Promoting AI in strategic sectors

  • Upcoming Apply AI Strategy to increase adoption across key sectors, including healthcare and public services.
  • Support from AI Factories and European Digital Innovation Hubs (#EDIHs) to drive sectoral transformation.

4. Strengthening AI skills and talents

  • Measures to attract and retain top AI talent, including legal pathways for skilled non-EU workers.
  • New educational programs to prepare future AI specialists and reskill existing workers, with a focus on Generative AI.

5. Simplifying the implementation of the AI Act

  • Ongoing regulatory support through published guidelines and codes of practice.
  • Launch of the AI Act Service Desk to guide businesses in compliance and implementation.

At MultiPoD, we strongly support the objectives of the AI Continent Action Plan and share its vision of an AI that contributes to innovation, inclusion, and societal prosperity. We are committed to advancing AI as a tool that serves citizens, strengthens democracy, and supports meaningful public participation across Europe. Through innovative technologies like Generative AI, our Culture Specific Language Model (CSLM), and Cross Cultural Knowledge Graph (CSKG), we aim to foster inclusive dialogue across diverse languages and cultures while developing an inclusive and connected European Public Space.