A direct response to the technological pulse with the United States

The European Union begins to move with greater decision so as not to be left behind in the race for artificial intelligence (AI), where the United States and China mark the rhythm. A little over a month ago, the European Commission announced an investment of 150,000 million euros with that goal. Now, it takes a new step focused on reinforcing its technological sovereignty in key sectors, with a new investment of 1.3 billion euros.

The objective of investment. The initiative seeks to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence in companies and public administrations, also reinforcing the capacities in cloud services and cybercraft. In Brussels they leave no doubt: they consider this technology as critical and strategic for the future of Europe and its digital sovereignty. Therefore, it is included within the Europe Digital (Digital) Program For the 2025-2027 period.

Thus the investment will be divided. It has not been detailed how many millions will receive each area, but it has been defined how the budget will be distributed.

• Experiment with immersive environments, called “virtual worlds”, apply the AI ​​law and develop common data spaces with an efficient approach to energy consumption.
• Strengthen the European Digital Innovation Centers (EDIH) to facilitate the adoption of artificial intelligence in companies and public administrations.
• Promote the Destination Earth project, which seeks to build a digital model of the planet to support disaster risk management and adaptation to climate change.
• Strengthen cybersecurity capabilities, including the development of the EU cybersecurity reserve.
• Promote the training and attraction of talent in digital competences from educational centers and professional training.
• Display the new EU digital identity portfolio and its trust infrastructure, and foster its adoption in the Member States.
• Accelerate the digitalization of the public sector through the development of interoperable, efficient and high quality services.

Open call. The European Commission will open in April 2025 the first calls of the new Digital Europewith others planned throughout the year. The bases will be available in the EU Official Financing Portal, and will allow to present projects focused on generative artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, virtual worlds, digital public services and European digital identity, among others.

These calls do not distribute funds without more: they are competitive processes where interested entities must submit concrete proposals, with clear objectives and detailed execution plans. If the project convinces, you can receive financing for its development, implementation and application in real life. So the specific recipients of the 1.3 billion euros announced today have not yet been defined.

Towards a lower foreign dependence. As collected The Europe Digital Program page“The important thing is that Europe does not depend on systems and solutions from other regions of the world.” In that line, the European Commission has been promoting different strategic initiatives to strengthen its technological autonomy. One of them is the Chips Lawcreated to deal with the scarcity of semiconductors.

And what about regulation? The European Union was positioned as a world pioneer by being the first to regulate artificial intelligence, But criticism soon arrived. Several experts warned that a regulatory framework could stop innovation, just at a time when Europe competes with giants such as the United States and China. French president himself, Emmanuel Macron, described the rules of the block as “punitive” and demanded a more competitive strategy to boost a European AI.

At the end of last year, shortly before starting his second term at the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen He acknowledged that European startups They face a clear disadvantage against their American counterparts, and proposed new measures to close that gap. It will be necessary to see if these efforts give results and allow the old continent to position themselves better in the career for artificial intelligence, technological development and the long -awaited digital sovereignty.

Images | Alexandre Lallemand | Igor Omilaev | Markus Spiske

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