European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has recently made a bold statement “I want the Future of AI to be made in Europe”
Europe is making its biggest move in the global AI race, introducing two new strategies designed to place Europe at the forefront of both industrial transformation and scientific innovation.
To position Europe as a leader in AI, the Commission introduced the AI Continent Action Plan in April,2025. The next step in realizing this goal is to implement the Apply AI and AI in Science Strategies.
The “Apply AI” plan will focus on sectors like healthcare, energy, and manufacturing, while “AI in Science” aims to grant researchers better access to data, compute and tools. With this new strategy Europe signals that it not only wants to compete globally but lead the AI development in a way that aligns with its values of trust, transparency and autonomy. EU wants to secure its place in the global AI race while keeping its independence from tech giants like US and China. These strategies aim to support the local industries, boost innovation, and ensure AI growth.
What is “Apply AI” Strategy: Bringing AI to Everyday Life
The goal of Apply AI strategy is to use AI in everyday situations rather than merely for research. It focuses on bringing AI into important sectors like healthcare, pharmaceuticals, energy, construction, mobility, agri-food, defense, communication, and culture. It will also support small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) by helping these industries integrate AI into their business.
The EU will spend about €1billion to support the project by establishing AI powered advance screening centers for healthcare and specialized AI systems for industries such as pharmaceuticals and environment. In the future, new initiatives in sectors like finance, tourism, and e-commerce might be added.
The objective is to ensure more efficiency in Europe’s industry. From facilitating more accurate Healthcare diagnosis or making public services easier to access. It promotes AI first policy so more companies can consider AI as part of the solution when dealing with challenges, while taking into consideration the benefits and risk involved.
To make all this possible EU intends to,
- Connect data testing, and infrastructure, so new AI ideas reach the market faster, making EU workforce to be AI-ready.
- EU is coming up with experience centers where companies can test new AI tools.
- Europe is also introducing a Frontier AI initiative to support innovation by bringing together Europe’s Leading AI actors, and
- Run an AI observatory to track AI trends and impacts.
- Lastly, the AI Act Service Desk will assist nations and businesses in efficiently adhering to the EU’s new AI regulations.
What is ‘AI in Science’ Strategy: Europe’s Plan to Lead Global Innovation
In addition to Apply AI, the AI in Science strategy establishes the EU as a center for scientific innovation powered by AI. At the heart of its initiative lies RAISE-Resources for AI Science in Europe – a virtual institute designed for coordinating AI resources for the advancement of AI and applying it in science.
The strategic outline includes some key aspects of the action.
First, it focuses Excellence and talent, strategizes to entice highly qualified professionals and scientific talents from around the world to “choose Europe”.
The second important element is computing power. The EU is allocating €600 million from Horizon Europe to enhance and expand access to high-performance computing infrastructure, including the emerging AI Gigafactories for EU researchers and startups.
Thirdly, another component is Research Funding; this intends to double Horizon Europe’s yearly spending to more than €3 billion, which would include increasing financing for scientific AI.
And finally, an important part of the plan is Data. The commission plans to help support scientists to identify key data gaps as well as collect, curate, and integrate the datasets needed for AI in science.
In support of these efforts, the Commission’s joint Research Centre is generating sectoral studies, technical assessments, and new reports on the effects of AI on science and research methods.
THE ROAD AHEAD
To unlock the full potential of AI, the EU must ensure easy and secure access to high quality structured data. In response, the EU Commission plans to present a Data Union Strategy at the end of October. The goal of this policy will be to foster a more integrated and effective environment for AI research, through the rationalization of data governance policies in the EU, to better support the interests of society, the public sector, and businesses.
The AI in Science summit, on 3-4 November 2025, in Copenhagen, co-organized by the Commissions and the Danish Presidency, will be an important engagement opportunity. This summit will bring together policymakers, researchers, and industry representatives to present and launch key actions under the AI in Science Strategy, including the RAISE pilot and private sector pledge initiatives. This summit will represent an important first step towards a coordinated European approach to AI-enabled Science and innovation.
