The European Commission is introducing two strategies to position the European Union as a global leader in AI: Apply AI and AI in Science. The initiatives aim to accelerate AI adoption in key industrial sectors and promote scientific research, supported by a multi-billion-euro investment to compete with the United States and China.
“I want the future of AI to be made in Europe,” says Ursula von der Leyen, President, European Commission. “When we use AI, we find smarter, faster, and more affordable solutions. Its adoption must become widespread, and with these strategies, we will help to accelerate that process.”
In April 2025, the commission presented the AI Continent Action Plan, a roadmap that combines regulatory measures like the AI Act with promotional actions to solidify the region’s global technological position. As AI transforms business operations, public services, and science, these new strategies focus on practical execution and investment. The objective is to ensure the bloc not only regulates the technology but also innovates and applies it at scale, mobilizing resources to maintain its competitive edge.
The two strategies are designed to simultaneously address the commercial application and the fundamental scientific development of AI. This creates a comprehensive ecosystem that extends from the laboratory to the market.
Apply AI: Fostering Industrial Adoption
The Apply AI strategy is designed to speed up the integration of artificial intelligence into strategic public and private sectors, with an initial funding of €1 billion (US$1.16 billion). Its market-oriented approach seeks to reduce the time from concept to the commercial availability of AI-based solutions.
The initial priority sectors include health, energy, mobility, manufacturing, construction, agri-food, defense, communications, and culture. Finance, tourism, and e-commerce are expected to be incorporated later. The plan includes specific measures for each sector, for example, creating advanced centers for early disease detection and developing frontier models tailored to the needs of industries like pharmaceuticals.
The operation of Apply AI will be structured through several key mechanisms. An “AI First” policy will encourage companies, with a particular emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to view AI as a primary tool for operational growth and efficiency. Concurrently, the European Digital Innovation Hubs will be transformed into AI Experience Centers to offer companies preferential access to innovations, services, and the bloc’s technology ecosystem. To coordinate these efforts, the Apply AI Alliance, a new forum, will bring together representatives from industry, the public sector, academia, and civil society. Finally, an AI Observatory will be established to monitor trends, identify risks, and assess the technology’s sector-specific impact, providing data for decision-making.
Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice President for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age, European Commission, says that the strategy will allow the European Union “to strengthen our competitiveness and reinforce our technological sovereignty.”
AI in Science: Advancing Cutting-Edge Research
In parallel, the AI in Science strategy aims to place the European Union at the forefront of AI-driven scientific research and innovation. Its central pillar is the creation of the Resource for AI Science in Europe (RAISE), a virtual institute that will centralize and coordinate resources for AI development and application in science.
RAISE’s actions are structured around four pillars. The first, Talent Development and Attraction, will allocate €58 million (US$67 million) to excellence and doctoral networks under the RAISE pilot project to train, retain, and attract highly qualified professionals. The second pillar, Computing Capabilities, involves a €600 million (US$693 million) investment from the Horizon Europe program to expand access for researchers and startups to the computational power of “AI gigafactories.” The third pillar addresses Research Funding, doubling Horizon Europe’s annual investments in AI to over €3 billion (US$3.46 billion) to encourage its development and use in scientific projects. The fourth pillar, Strategic Data Access, will provide support to scientists to identify information gaps and to collect, curate, and integrate the datasets required to train AI models.
RAISE “will be the catalyst, bringing together resources, mobilizing investment and attracting the best talent from Europe and beyond,” says Iliana Ivanova, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, European Commission. With these measures, the European Commission seeks to ensure the bloc has the resources, infrastructure, and human capital required to capitalize on the global AI trend.