The EC has laid out its plan to make Europe an AI continent, focusing on cloud computing, data accessibility, economy-wide adoption, skills and regulatory simplification
The plan details the EC’s vision for Europe to become an AI continent through increased computing power and accessible data
On 9 April 2025, the EC published its AI Continent Action Plan, outlining the actions it believes need to be taken for the EU to become a global leader in AI. The plan sets out to help shape the future of AI in a way that enhances the EU’s competitiveness and safeguards and advances its democratic values. The plan stresses that the EU must take its own distinctive approach to AI by capitalising on a number of its key strengths such as:
Its large single market protected by a singular set of EU-wide safety rules, including the AI Act, which will ensure the trustworthy use of AI;
Its high-quality research and science talent among scientists and skilled professionals;
Its thriving startup and scaleup scene, providing industrial expertise; and
Its solid foundation in world-class computational power, with accessible data spaces.
The public accessibility of computing power and data is deemed to be a key driver of this unique EU approach in how it enables the open, collaborative and transparent development of new cutting-edge AI models. The EC also establishes five pillars it perceives as central to this plan: computing infrastructure, data, the adoption and development of algorithms, skills and regulatory simplification.
The plan lays out the future of the Cloud and AI Development Act while also establishing the Data Union Strategy
On 9 April 2025, the EC also opened a public consultation on its proposed Cloud and AI Development Act, seeking feedback to help guide the direction of the bill. The aim of the consultation is to gather stakeholder opinions on the EU’s capacity in cloud and edge computing infrastructure, as well as on the use of cloud services in the public sector. The consultation ends on 4 June 2025 and precedes the EC’s plan to adopt a proposal for the act in Q4 2025 or Q1 2026. The AI Continent Action Plan’s first pillar is similarly focused on the need for large-scale AI data and computing infrastructure to be built across Europe such as AI factories, gigafactories and data centres, all of which is to be spurred by the previously announced EU investment of €50bn (£43.3m). The second pillar of the plan centres on the data required for AI development and discusses the Data Union Strategy, which will aim to make more data available in support of AI development while strengthening the EU’s data ecosystem by improving interoperability. It also seeks to better align data policies with the needs of businesses, the public sector and society. The strategy will put forward safeguards to promote a culture of trust and cooperation in data. The EC is set to launch a public consultation on the Data Union Strategy in Q2 2025 and then publish a further communication on this in Q3 2025.
The Apply AI Strategy and the AI Skills Academy will look to encourage AI adoption across sectors while ensuring that the EU is developing a rich AI talent pool
The third and fourth pillars cover the acceleration of AI adoption and the need to strengthen AI skills across the continent. The plan explains that the adoption of AI across all strategic sectors including the public administration is key because of how this can foster innovation, enhance competitiveness, boost economic growth and reduce the administrative burden. This is the main objective of the upcoming Apply AI Strategy which will focus on industry sectors where EU expertise could contribute to further increases in productivity and competitiveness, as well as address public sector AI adoption. The skills pillar sets out the EC’s plans to support the increase in the provision of EU university degrees that focus on key technologies such as AI and to launch the AI Skills Academy in Q2 2025 – both of which aim to increase the EU’s AI talent pool. The plan also provides for those who need to be either upskilled or reskilled in the use of AI. The EC calls upon the European Digital Innovation Hubs to increase their skills and training services in order to offer hands-on courses on AI for different technical and non-technical profiles and sectors.
The EC is planning to simplify and streamline the regulatory process surrounding the AI Act with the help of the new AI Act Service Desk
The fifth pillar of the plan details how the EC can foster regulatory compliance and simplification in AI, particularly in relation to the enforcement of the AI Act. The plan explains that the EC and Member States must step up their work in facilitating a smooth and predictable application of the AI Act. As a first step towards this, the EC is launching the AI Service Desk in July 2025 which will act as a central information hub on the AI Act. This service desk will provide an interactive platform for businesses and other stakeholders (such as public authorities) to ask questions, get answers and have access to technical tools to aid their application of and compliance with the AI Act. The immediate next step for the EC on this pillar is to identify further measures needed to facilitate a smooth, streamlined and simple application of the AI Act – it will also launch a process later in April 2025 inviting stakeholder views on current regulatory challenges as a part of the Apply AI Strategy’s public consultation.
