Commission Opens Public Consultation on Apply AI Strategy to Shape Europe’s Digital Future

On 9 April 2025, the European Commission launched a public consultation on its forthcoming Apply AI Strategy. Scheduled for release in the third quarter of 2025, the strategy is designed to accelerate the integration of AI technologies across strategic sectors and reinforce the EU’s technological sovereignty.

This initiative follows the political vision laid out by President von der Leyen, who has emphasised the importance of making Europe a global hub for trustworthy and innovative AI. The Apply AI Strategy builds on a series of foundational policies, including the AI Act—the world’s first comprehensive regulation on artificial intelligence—as well as the Coordinated Plans on AI, the AI Continent Action Plan, and recent initiatives such as AI Factories and GenAI4EU. Together, these efforts aim to create a dynamic and secure environment for AI development and deployment within the EU.

The Commission’s consultation comes at a time when the global AI landscape is rapidly evolving. While AI is expected to contribute as much as €3.4 trillion to the EU economy by 2030, most of the technological breakthroughs and investments are currently taking place outside Europe. This imbalance raises concerns about the EU’s ability to maintain its competitiveness, protect its values, and ensure technological sovereignty. The strategy seeks to address these challenges by fostering innovation, increasing AI adoption—particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises—and reducing the EU’s dependence on foreign technologies.

One of the central goals of the Apply AI Strategy is to accelerate the integration of AI into Europe’s strategic industrial sectors. By doing so, the Commission hopes to boost productivity, enhance competitiveness, and enable the development of new products, services, and business models. At the same time, the strategy aims to transform public services through AI, improving their efficiency and responsiveness to citizens’ needs. In particular, the strategy will focus on strategic ‘verticals’ (i.e. sectors) where EU know-how could contribute to further increasing productivity and competitiveness, identifying policy actions and specific deliverables.

The strategy will also be closely linked to a parallel initiative: the forthcoming Communication on AI in Science, to be adopted at the same time as the strategy. This complementary effort will focus on promoting the responsible and rapid adoption of AI in research, ensuring that scientists across the EU have access to the tools, infrastructure, and communities they need to innovate. Both strategies will be aligned to ensure coherence in policy and implementation.

To support these ambitions, the Commission plans to mobilise a range of instruments, including funding programmes, AI factories and gigafactories, digital innovation hubs, data spaces, testing facilities, and skills academies. These resources will be organised within sector-specific frameworks, each with clear milestones and deliverables to be achieved over the next three to five years.

The Commission is now inviting stakeholders from across the EU—industry leaders, researchers, public authorities, and civil society—to contribute their insights and feedback. The consultation is open until June 4, 2025, via the “Have Your Say” portal.

 

For more information, please contact Paolo Sasdelli.