With the AI Continent Action Plan released today, the EU Commission is sending an ambitious signal: Europe aims to become the Number One AI hub – with targeted investments in computing power, data infrastructures, skilled workers and the promotion of applications. From the perspective of eco – Association of the Internet Industry, this is an urgently needed paradigm shift in European AI policy – towards more innovation, scalability and competitiveness, as well as making AI applications more widespread.
“The AI Action Plan comes at the right time. Europe can no longer afford to lag behind global AI development. Now is the time to implement, not to create further regulatory obstacles”, emphasises Oliver Süme, Chair of the Board of the eco – Association of the Internet Industry. “We particularly welcome the fact that the Commission has identified real levers to accelerate AI innovation in Europe, with initiatives like AI factories and planned gigafactories, the InvestAI programme and the targeted cloud and data strategy. The commitment to triple Europe’s data centre capacity by 2030 is also a positive signal, which must now be backed up with concrete support and simplification measures.”
It is also positive that the first steps have been announced to ease the burden on companies with regard to the AI Act – for example, through a central AI Act service desk and simplified access to information. What is now crucial is that these words are followed by concrete, quickly effective measures – especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.
eco – Association of the Internet Industry is calling for:
- a binding, practical AI funding strategy at the EU level,
- a digital omnibus to simplify existing regulations,
- more support for SMEs in implementing the AI Act,
- strategic measures to attract skilled workers, including targeted immigration, training and further education opportunities,
- systematic involvement of the economy in all phases of implementation,
- targeted investments in European computing and data infrastructures and their sustainability, with gigafactories as central anchors in Europe.
This is the only way Europe can achieve true technological sovereignty in the field of AI and compete globally with the US and China.
