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Facilitating digital progress in Europe is on top in the EU’s present and future policy directions: recent initiatives and AI’s ambitions clearly define it. Just a couple of events have shown the EU’s perspectives: for example, AI in science summit this October and the European AI innovation month’s initiative. Besides, it is vital to keep in mind the EU-wide AI strategy and the so-called AI continental action plan, as well as the AI Act and the 2024 Innovation Package aimed to support AI startups and SMEs digitalisation process.
AI in Science Summit 2026 – AIS26
AIS26 is coordinated by the University College Dublin and Taighde Éireann-Research Ireland, to bring together scientists, industry leaders, investors and policymakers in order: a) to explore the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on scientific discovery, and b) to facilitate the European-wide drive towards transforming AI models with a distinctive and responsible approach to scientific fields.
AIS26 is an official Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union event and European AI Innovation Month flagship summit. The summit’s overarching theme is “Reaching a New Level of Ambition in Research and Innovation”.
Ekaterina Zaharieva, European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation notes that, “RAISE will develop powerful AI models and apply them across scientific disciplines. It will strengthen our competitiveness and ensure that the EU remains at the forefront of AI and science, making this a powerful argument to Choose Europe”.
Note. The concept of RAISE (Resource for AI Science in Europe) was unveiled in the European Strategy for AI in Science published in October 2025. RAISE will be the home of targeted Thematic Networks of Excellence in which excellent research labs will push the boundaries of their discipline (either in AI in science or science for AI). A central secretariat will interconnect these Networks to make sure AI-based advances in one discipline can push other areas forward as well. It will also facilitate access to pooled resources, spanning computational power, data, talent and research funding. Science for AI and AI in science – so-called RAISE – is conceived as a virtual research institute for excellent European research on and with AI. It will pool computational power, data, talent and research funding and make this available to European researchers. By creating synergies and stimulating a cross-disciplinary dynamic among excellent researchers and labs working with AI, it aims to unlock scientific breakthroughs and develop novel AI technologies, reinforcing Europe’s global competitiveness in AI science.
More in: https://www.ais26.eu/ and in: https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/strategy/strategy-research-and-innovation/our-digital-future/european-ai-science-strategy/raise-resource-ai-science-europe_en
European AI Innovation Month
The European AI Innovation Month brings together policymakers, industry, public sector, and research together to discuss and showcase how AI is being developed and applied across EU industry sectors.
From 14 October to 17 November 2026, this initiative led by the European Commission in partnership with the Irish Presidency of the Council promotes a series of online and in-person events showcasing AI innovation and adoption across Europe.
More in: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/european-ai-innovation-month
European AI’s strategy
The EU’s approach to artificial intelligence promotes excellence and trust, by boosting research and industrial capacity while ensuring safety and fundamental rights. These 2 ambitions are inseparable: i.e. to unlock the full potential of AI, the member states (and the EU institutions) must build an ecosystem of excellence that leverages its strengths in research, industrial know-how and regulatory capacity across the AI value chain. At the same time, developing an ecosystem of trust is essential to promote confidence in AI and provide legal certainty for businesses to innovate. The two key components of this ecosystem include: the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs, in: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/edihs), which act as enablers for the SMEs digital transformation (with a reinforced focus on AI), and the Testing and Experimentation Facilities (TEFs), which provide optimal conditions for testing cutting-edge AI technologies.
On the ecosystem of excellence, in: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/ecosystem-ai-innovation-europe
To achieve this, Europe’s AI policy approach has been evolving for nearly a decade, resulting in the development of a comprehensive governance framework for AI and a set of concrete instruments covering regulation, capability-building and adoption. Together, these elements guide EU responses to emerging and disruptive innovations.
The AI Continent Action Plan
The AI Continent Action Plan is turning Europe into a global leader in AI by accelerating the development, deployment and uptake of the technology across key sectors like healthcare, education, industry, and environmental sustainability.
More in thew action plan in: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/factpages/ai-continent-action-plan
The plan is based on five strategic areas: – to build large-scale AI data and computing infrastructures, – increase access to high-quality data, – fostering AI adoption in strategic sectors, – strengthening AI skills and talent, and – facilitating the implementation of the AI Act, e.g. through algorithms’ development. Besides, the key plan’s components include:
= The reinforcement of AI Factories and Gigafactories
= The InvestAI Facility to stimulate private investment
= AI Act Service Desk, to support a smooth and effective implementation of the AI Act across the EU
= The perspective creation of the AI Skills Academy
More in: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/factpages/ai-continent-action-plan
Another vital legal instrument inn the digital agenda is the Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA). which aims to reduce strategic dependencies and advance the AI Continent Action Plan’s goal of more sovereign, resilient and competitive European AI solutions. CADA is expected to create better conditions for businesses, researchers and public administrations to innovate and invest in AI and cloud technologies.
On CADA in: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/cloud-and-ai-development-act
Apply AI Strategy
The Apply AI Strategy complements the AI Continent Action Plan. It aims to harness AI’s transformative potential by increasing AI adoption and integration across key industrial and public sectors, especially among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and support their specific needs.
This strategy is boosting EU capabilities to unlock societal benefits, from enabling more accurate medical diagnoses to increasing the accessibility and efficiency of public services. It encourages an AI-first policy, so more companies consider AI as a part of the solution to tackle challenges, while taking into careful consideration the benefits and the risks of the technology. 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.
To coordinate AI-related policies and continue the dialogue on EU strategic sectors, the European Commission also launched the Apply AI Alliance. This is a forum made up of AI providers, industry, public sector, academia, social partners and civil society organisations. Closely connected to this forum, the upcoming AI Observatory will track AI trends and assess the impact of AI in specific sectors.
On AI Alliance in: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/apply-ai-alliance
The AI Act
The AI Act introduces a clear, easy-to-understand approach based on 4 different levels of risk – giving AI developers, deployers, and users clarity about how to address risks generated by specific AI uses. The law strikes a balance between promoting AI research and innovation while ensuring Europeans can benefit from safe and trustworthy AI. From 2 August 2026, the AI Office and national authorities started to enforce the AI Act.
The Commission is committed to a clear, simple and innovation-friendly implementation of the AI Act. In November 2025, we proposed targeted amendments to the AI Act (the ‘AI omnibus’) as part of the digital simplification package. The amendments were adopted in June 2026 and entered into force in 27 July 2026.
These efforts complement actions already underway to provide clarity for businesses and national authorities.
More on upcoming guidelines supporting the implementation of the AI Act in: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/supporting-implementation-ai-act-clear-guidelines
AI innovation package and GenAI4EU initiative
The 2024 Innovation Package to support AI startups and SMEs was designed to create the conditions to give smaller companies greater access to key ingredients for developing AI: data, computing, algorithms and talent, including facilitating access to supercomputing.
One key element of this package is the Communication on boosting startups and innovation in trustworthy AI that sets out a strategic investment framework in trustworthy AI. This will enable the EU to capitalise on its assets, in particular its world-leading supercomputing infrastructure, and to foster an innovative European AI ecosystem.
More on GenAI4EU in: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/genai4eu
As it was mentioned in the Commission’s Communication, the GenAI4EU initiative aimed to stimulate the uptake of generative AI across the EU’s key strategic industrial ecosystems. In turn, that will encourage the development of large open innovation ecosystems that will boost collaboration between AI startups and deployers of AI in both industrial and public sectors.
General source and citations from: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/european-approach-artificial-intelligence