From the Envoy in Strasbourg – The European Commission is displaying optimism in the field of artificial intelligence. Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President in charge of technological sovereignty, presented two initiatives today (October 8) to support the development of AI on the Continent in the European Parliament—the first dedicated to the application of technology, the second to promote research and development. At the end of the process, the goal will be to develop a European technology that ensures digital sovereignty.
A horizon as ambitious as it is distant, given the current abysmal gap between the 12-star club and the Chinese and US giants. Just to give an example, the largest European technology company, France’s Mistral AI is valued at 12 billion euros, while the smallest of the eight American AI sisters, Palantir, is worth 119 billion euros.
Global AI capex projected to jump to $490 billion in 2026.
To reach $4 trillion by 2030 !!
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Apply AI Strategy
Taking action, however, is better than inaction. At the press conference, Virkkunen outlined the first project: Apply AI Strategy, which defines how to accelerate the use of artificial intelligence in key industrial sectors. The program aims to channel the EU’s efforts into 11 strategic sectors, including pharmaceuticals, health, energy, mobility, public administration, industrial production, construction, agribusiness, defense, communication, and culture. The goal, the executive vice president recalled, is to increase the threshold of “13 percent of European companies using artificial intelligence,” which is currently relatively low. This percentage varies widely by geography, ranging from 27 percent in Denmark to some regions where it remains very low.
Just a glimpse at the practical implementations: establishing “advanced screening centers for healthcare, enabling diagnoses based on Artificial Intelligence;” Virkkunen indicated for mobility, investments to make “fully autonomous cars,” and for public administration, “open source tools useful for organizations.” The European Commission emphasizes the need to advance artificial intelligence where it has not yet achieved breakthroughs. “Now most of the applications of this tool are for the tertiary sector, in office work,” said the commissioner. However, the difference for the continental economy could be made by the application of AI in industrial production, increasing the added value of local companies.
Research Funding
Implementing this technology in sectors still lacking it, however, requires research and development. This is why Europe has developed the AI in Science Strategy project to attract global talent and highly skilled professionals, encouraging them to choose Europe as their destination. This includes 58 million euros under the RAISE pilot project to train, retain, and attract top talent in AI and scientific research. In addition, funding from the Horizon Europe project is allocated, aiming to reach 3 billion euros, with a specific increase in funds for the application of AI in scientific research.
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US rivals
Even with these efforts, digital sovereignty — a goal set by Brussels — remains a mirage. European companies pale in comparison to the fact that, by 2025, the eight leading US firms in the AI sector (Nvidia, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Oracle, AMD, Palantir, and OpenAI) will have collectively gained 4.3 trillion dollars in market value. European investments, by contrast, are a drop in the ocean.
Virkunnen highlighted the presence of “7,000 start-ups dedicated to digital innovation and the presence of giga factories” on European soil. The EU’s noble mission is to “create artificial intelligence for a safe and transparent online world, and we have good regulations to get there.” However, the question remains how to defend small European companies from the dominance of the giants on the other side of the ocean.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
