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A decade of AI policies in the EU is successfully over: the Commission published a report on AI adoption in public administration and a policy brief on the AI Continent Action Plan, which is built on the Apply AI Strategy. Modern European AI-adoption framework is structured around such activities as: – anchoring AI adoption in EU policies, regulations and principles; – adapting the capabilities of public administrations; and – applying AI in high-impact domains.
European AI continental plan: a yearly account
In April 2025, the European Commission launched its action plan – presently called the European AI continental plan – which has been based on five key pillars: computing infrastructure, data, skills, AI adoption and simplifying AI rules.
During past twelve months, the Commission has been evaluating the progress made in the European AI’s deployment: for example, the European AI models have begun expanding their computing capacity through the presently operational 19 AI Factories, alongside 13 additional so-called AI Factory antennas, AIFAs.
The newly selected AI “antennas” are established to expand and complement the services of the existing EuroHPC AI Factories. Each antenna works in close coordination with its respective AI factories to support the continued development of national AI systems, providing access to AI-optimised supercomputing resources for research, innovation and industrial applications in different fields. In addition, the AI factory antennas may also provide smaller-scale AI computing resources to support the fine-tuning, testing and validation of AI applications.
The establishment of these AI antennas represents a significant milestone in broadening the impact of the AI Factories initiative. They will enable wider access to high-performance AI infrastructure and contribute to Europe’s ambition to advance artificial intelligence research and innovation.
More in: https://www.eurohpc-ju.europa.eu/ai-factories_en
For example, the AIFA-LAT (in Latvia) aims to strengthen the country’s AI innovation infrastructure by creating a technologically robust, modular and scalable system that supports research, experimentation and adoption of AI across key sectors of the economy, academia and public administration. AIFA-LAT will connect AI research, technical capability development, and innovation, accelerating Latvia’s progress toward a more competitive and data-driven economy; Latvian AIFA’s is linked with the LUMI AI Factory in Finland.
By mid-2026, all selected AI Factory Antennas and the linked AI Factories in Europe will sign a Memorandum of Understanding to set out the terms of their collaboration that would contribute to the digital strategy’s mission and objectives of the associated AI Factories.
Reference to: https://www.eurohpc-ju.europa.eu/eurohpc-ju-selects-ai-factory-antennas-broaden-ai-factories-initiative-2025-10-13_en
Furthermore, a call for expression of interest on AI Gigafactories reflected a positive response in the EU-27: it was met with 76 responses across 60 sites in 16 different EU member states. The AI Gigafactories are large-scale facilities dedicated to the development and training of next-generation AI models containing trillions of parameters.
To achieve this, AI Gigafactories will bring together computing power – over 100,000 advanced AI processors – and a strong emphasis on power capacity, reliable supply chains, advanced networking, energy efficiency and AI-driven automation. There are presently 6 AI hosting and 12 partner countries.
Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/ai-factories
The EU-wide Data Strategy
Besides, in last November, the Commission delivered its Data Union Strategy, focusing on unlocking the potential of data for AI development in Europe. The Data Union Strategy will increase the availability of data for AI development, simplify EU data rules and strengthen the EU’s global position on international data flows.
Artificial intelligence is becoming a driving force of national economies, both in the tech sector and beyond as it provides new solutions across industries. In order to compete in the global digital market, the EU must be able to fuel AI with high-quality data: hence, the data strategy addresses this need for high-quality data in Europe, with the aim of exploiting the untapped potential of data and completing the Single Market for data.
As geopolitical tensions and digital protectionism grow, Europe intends to safeguard its digital assets and shape global rules for data to flow to and from Europe securely and in a trusted manner. To this end, the EU actions include: – issuing guidelines to assess fair treatment of EU data abroad; and -creating a toolbox to counter unjustified localisation, exclusion, data leakage and adoption measures to protection sensitive non-personal data.
More in: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/data-union
Digital skills: external factors
On skills, the EU has begun exploring ways of attracting talent in AI from around the world, including through the European Legal Gateway Office launched in February 2026 during the last AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.
This Legal Gateway Office will provide Indian ICT talent with clear and reliable information on legal mobility pathways to the EU as well as advertise work and study opportunities in the ICT sector.
It will also support European employers and educational institutions in better understanding the richness of the Indian landscape when it comes to the ICT sector.
Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/henna-virkkunen-and-indias-minister-external-affairs-dr-s-jaishankar-launch-european-legal-gateway
Apply AI strategy
The EU-wide Apply AI Strategy, published in October 2025, is already showing results, with dozens of calls, together worth up to €1 billion opened across strategic sectors, helping our businesses adopt AI and build their competitiveness. The Apply AI Strategy is designed to enhance the competitiveness of strategic sectors and strengthen the EU’s technological sovereignty. It aims to boost AI adoption and innovation across Europe, particularly among SMEs.
The Strategy encourages an AI first policy where AI is considered as a potential solution whenever organisations make strategic or policy decisions, taking into careful consideration the benefits and the risks of the technology. The Apply AI also promotes a ‘buy European’ approach, particularly for the public sector, with a focus on open-source AI solutions.
More in: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/apply-ai
Digital simplification: law and business
Finally, in November 2025, the Commission proposed its AI Omnibus as a way of simplifying rules and providing legal certainty to businesses. It also launched an AI Act Service Desk to assist businesses and organisations in implementing the AI Act.
The AI Act, which entered into force in August 2024, creates a single market and harmonised rules for trustworthy AI in the EU. It aims to promote innovation and uptake of AI, while addressing potential risks to people’s health, safety and fundamental rights and safeguarding democracy and the rule of law.
The adoption of the AI Act marks a major milestone for the EU, and ensuring its effective implementation is now a key priority for the Commission. The Single Information Platform, as foreseen in the AI Act, provides online interactive tools to help stakeholders determine whether they are subject to legal obligations and understand the steps they need to take to comply.
Reference to: https://ai-act-service-desk.ec.europa.eu/en
Conclusion
Since 2018, in close collaboration with other EU institutions and the member states, the European Commission has been shaping the specific European approach to AI policy, framing and supporting the development, deployment and use of AI by public, private organisations, citizens and the corporate community.
Rather than relying on a single policy instrument, the EU has progressively constructed a comprehensive approach to foster innovation and competitiveness while safeguarding fundamental rights, market integrity and trust.
For example, the Science for Policy brief provides an interpretative analysis of this process with evidence-based input.
More on the European approach to artificial intelligence policy-making in: https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC146313