Views: 36
The “European digital way” emphasizes a digital transformation that prioritizes people and their rights, ensuring a fair, inclusive, and sustainable digital future for all citizens. This approach is enshrined in the European declaration on digital rights and principles, which acts as a guide for the EU and its member states, shaping policies and technological development to uphold fundamental rights and freedoms in the digital realm.
EU digital transition: Commission’s initial steps
At the end of 2020 the then Commission college, presented a five-year EU-wide digital plan “European digital way: people and their rights first”, along with specific strategies on AI and data processing. The plan’s idea was to ensure that fundamental rights are embedded in these plans: finally, it is not only about technological progress, but first and foremost about human progress. The Commission strongly insisted that the digital innovation and fundamental rights ate two sides of the same coin, i.e. the follow-up EU development has shown that these two aspects are fundamentally supporting and interchangeable.
The former Commission’s Vice President V. Jurova responsible for EU values and transparency, initiated the EU-wide strong politico-economic drive to govern vibrant digital and AI startups, leading industries, brilliant digital researchers and innovative businesses. The European Commission also underlined important steps dealing with extensive actions towards digital development and AI models in the member states.
These initial steps have included such AI principles as, diversity, equality, right to private life and consumer protection, which have been both necessary in the digital world and vital for the EU-wide digital technology’s model. It was important that from the outset the digital transition was aimed at serving people and communities, i.e. “people first, not the state”, noted Commissioner.
Then, the EU-wide AI models should be based on trust: i.e. for the digital revolution to succeed, people must trust the technology for a “trustful use”; it also means not only better products and services but also more responsible and sustainable.
Among the AI benefits are: e.g. great potentials of lives’ improvement and recovery in healthcare sector where AI assists doctors in predicting and cure cancer better and earlier; hence the European Commission in its initiatives promoted AI excellence and trust: the former, for example, meaning investing in key AI models’ deployment and use of the data, as the raw material for optimal AI’s functioning.
Reference to a speech by Commission’s Vice President V. Jurova responsible for EU values and transparency (March 2020), in: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/STATEMENT_20_399
Note: Among top ten countries in the world in total AI investment (in US$, bn in 2025) are: United States- 470.9; China -119.3; United Kingdom -28.2; Canada-15.3; Israel-15, Germany-11,3; India-11,1; France-9, South Korea and Singapore-7.3 each.
Source: https://www.sphericalinsights.com/blogs/top-10-artificial-intelligence-spending-countries-in-2025-statistics-and-facts-analysis-2024-to-2035
Diversity in the AI’s deployment
Among most optimal ways of progressing the AI models as well as using talented people and diversity in reaching in full the digital potential, the Commission regarded the gender equality’s strategy. Women represent more than half of the EU’s population, but only 17% of people in ICT studies and careers, and only 36 percent of STEM graduates; at the same time, there is a shortage of ICT experts in the EU.
Actually, presently existing recruitment system (based on AI) would exclude or demote women and minorities from statistics; but having diverse teams and strong ethical standards, the enlarged involvement would help developing more inclusive AI.
For example, Willa as a French non-profit organization, formerly known as Paris Pionnières, that supports women startup founders and promotes gender diversity in the innovation sector; it offers various acceleration programs for women entrepreneurs at different stages of their business development, from idea validation to scaling. Besides, the Willa-incubator revealed an interesting fact: i.e. the developing teams include women and outperform their all-male peers by about 63 percent.
Source: https://www.wegate.eu/willa-company-incubator-for-women-in-the-french-tech-scene-france/
Besides, the digital diversity’s issue is also about combining together the public and private sectors, companies, academia and civil society; the Commission intends to foster the European public-private partnership on AI by connecting the research excellence centers in the EU states and regions. This trend is based on solid investments: at a time of fierce international competition, the EU aims to reach at least €20 billion of public and private investments in AI per year by 2025. To reach the target, the EU member states need to create the right environment to stimulate investments within a strong digital single market. With common rules – instead of a patchwork of national frameworks – companies can scale up across borders: a lot has been achieved in the EU over the past years: in cybersecurity and/or data, for example, the EU adopted rules on the free flow on non-personal data in Europe, as well as data flow arrangements with important trading partners such as the US and Japan; these rules shall be properly enforced with the continued removing remaining barriers.
Public funding shall leverage private investments: i.e. this trend is included in the proposed next EU budget draft for 2021-2027; for the first time, there was proposed a program dedicated to the so-called “digital Europe”, as the most ambitious European research and innovation program with €100 billion funding.
Reference to: Eteris E. “Discussing the EU long-term budget: facing modern challenges” (2025), in: https://www.integrin.dk/2025/07/15/discussing-the-eu-long-term-budget-facing-modern-challenges/
European digital transition also needs data; besides, the AI is as good as the data feeding it using available industrial, research and public data in Europe. The EU also initiated measures creating data sharing means both among businesses and between businesses and governance’s bodies; this means establishing practical, fair and clear rules on data access and use, which comply with European values and rights, including horizontal privacy regime which has also become a reference point for the EU partners in the world.
Trust and openness are other vital ingredients in the AI’s deployment: hence, promoting talent, investments and data sharing can facilitate the digital excellence and trust. For people and companies to make the most of opportunities, they need to be able to trust the AI systems; hence, the EU initiated some strong recommendations for an ethical approach to AI.
Consumers and AI users should be able to trust in getting most accurate results from safe AIs which respects peoples’ rights; besides, as soon as digital and AI technologies are rather complicated, it is vital that not only the AI design process is based on strong ethical standards, but transparency can assist in achieving better results.
The EU has had already a strong legal framework in place to ensure consumer protection, to address unfair commercial practices and to protect privacy; there are also specific rules for certain economy sectors such as transport. However, additional rules are needed for high-risk AI applications when it comes to health, justice ang/or police, as well as needed updates on liability and safety of products, concerning the optimal level of regulation in the standard setting for the AI models.
Finally, the issues of technological sovereignty, applied both for the AI past and future: it, generally, means having the freedom of choice and available alternatives when it comes to strategic technologies, as well as having the self-confidence in openness, cooperation and trust.
National AI’s approach in France
Among some vivid examples on the European continent is France, which has been one of the first EU countries to make public a comprehensive national AI strategy back in March 2018, with a clear European dimension in shaping the digital transition. In November 2021, France’s President adopted the National Strategy for AI as part of the national “France-2030” plan. This strategy builds upon the initial phase of the strategy, called “AI for Humanity”, which was implemented during 2018-21, with the primary objective to bolster France’s AI capabilities in driving economic growth.
The second phase of the national AI strategy (adopted in November 2021 up to 2030) includes a total budget of €2.22 billion for the coming 5 years, of which €1.5 billion comes from public funding and €506 million from private co-funding. The public contribution stems from government’s AI allocation – €648 million, other public funds (budgetary credits from ministries and agencies, EU’s support and local funding with €288 million), as well as from “France-2030” plan’s concerning “exceptional investment for AI education, totaling about €700 million. Out of the total €1.5 billion, education constitutes 56%, measures to support innovation and economic aspects account for 33.5%, while measures for scientific research and transfer represent 10.5%.
Note. The full strategy’s text (second phase) in French “Strategie Nationale pour l’Intelligence Artificielle-2e phase”, in: https://minefi.hosting.augure.com/Augure_Minefi/r/ContenuEnLigne/Download?id=334FD34F-7844-497E-9551-79EDFF3B2EEF&filename=1645%20-%20DP%20-%20Strat%C3%A9gie%20Nationale%20pour%20l%27IA%202%C3%A8me%20phase.pdf
The France’s AI strategy is committed to bridging the existing gap among the AI deployment, data science and robotics skills within the labor market. To achieve this, the strategy continues to offer financial incentives to higher education and research institutions: these incentives are intended to encourage the expansion of initial training programs at all levels, including foundational, intermediate and expert programs, as well as dual programs and the retraining or upskilling of talented people.
Among main AI priorities in the national strategy’s second phase, there is one aimed to ensure that France has the means to educate and attract the best international AI talents. This is a crucial challenge to enable France to have an impact on the global AI landscape and enhance the attractiveness to future industry leaders, particularly in the face of digital skills shortages.
Eteris E. “Digital Fairness Act: to ensure a fair digital environment for all Europeans” (2025), in: https://www.integrin.dk/2025/07/21/digital-fairness-act-to-ensure-a-fair-digital-environment-for-all-europeans/
There are the following indicators to be achieved in France in 2025 in the skills area:
1.Train and financially support a target of at least 2000 students in the professional bachelor’s programs, 1500 students in master’s programs, and additionally 200 PhD theses a year.
2. Positioning minimum one national AI center of excellence among the top international ranks.
3. Recruit 15 world-renowned foreign scientists by 2024.
The strategy is overseen on France’s National Coordinator for Artificial Intelligence and is integrated into the governance structure of the “Investments for the Future Program” and the “France 2030” plan through the national General Secretariat for Investment.
Source: https://digital-skills-jobs.europa.eu/en/actions/national-initiatives/national-strategies/france-national-strategy-ai
Digital perspectives in the Baltic States
The EU member states in the Baltic Sea region are well-known in e.g. production of food and beverages, textiles, wood products, traditional stalwarts and metal manufacturing, as well as in ICT and electronics: e.g. the three Baltic states have had the highest productivity and intellectual potential of the former constituent republics of the Soviet Union. Thus, the first in the USSR analog-digital convertors, and vice versa, have been made in Latvian Alfa factory already during 1970-80s. Although lagging behind in other essential socio-economic parameters among the three Baltic States, Latvia is still regarded at the forefront of technological advancements in the region, e.g. its universities actively cooperate with industry and manufacturing, foster innovation and entrepreneurship, which makes the country an ideal destination for students interested in such fields as ICT and engineering,
For example, the EU-wide digital strategy is aimed at facilitate employment of about 20 million ICT specialists by 2030, according to the EU’s Digital Decade PolicyProgram-2030; in the Baltic region, Latvia’s ICT sector has nearly doubled in size during 2008-18, with a 96 percent increase in digital employment and 169 percent rise in ICT companies.
More in: EU Digital Decade Policy Program-2030. – Official Journal of the European Union.
https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/digital-skills#:~:text=It%20outlines%20the%20EU’s%20ambitious,of%20ICT%20graduates%2C%20by%202030.
However, despite the increasing demand for ICT professionals, European labor markets face significant digital skills shortages: e.g. Sweden has anticipated a shortfall of 18.000 professionals annually between 2024-28; in Latvia it is expected by 2030 to be more than 9.000 specialists, i.e. already in 2020 more than half companies reported the lack of qualified ICT professionals in Latvia.
Source – Latvian Ministry of Economic development (labor market prognose), in: https://www.em.gov.lv/lv/media/19929/download?attachment