Silicon dreams, European realities: charting the EU’s AI industrial policy course to avoid slow agony

“The risk is for Europe to be totally dependent on AI models designed and developed abroad,” wrote Former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi in his long-awaited report. Even before this report was published, the Presidents of the European Commission and Council, as well as several MEPs negotiating the AI Act, prominent industry, civil society, and academic voices have been calling for Europe to get a seat at the table of global AI development.

The urgency is more pressing by the day, with Chinese and American public and private sector actors doubling down on their investments. Getting left behind in developing the next general-purpose technology, implemented across the economy, can further hamstring Europe’s already ailing competitiveness. In the words of Professor Draghi, “do this’ or it’s a slow agony.”

Less apparent than the urgency is how the EU could target industrial policy to facilitate the birth of world-class AI industries. This panel of leading EU AI policy voices explored this issue by asking:

• What specific policy measures should the EU prioritize to prevent a ‘Slow Agony’ in its AI industrial sector compared to global competitors?
• Could creating truly trustworthy AI systems represent a unique economic advantage to the EU?
• How can the EU’s AI industrial policy address the brain drain of AI talent to other regions, and what incentives might reverse this trend?
• What role should public-private partnerships play in accelerating AI innovation within existing EU industries?
• What are the potential benefits of setting up a pan-European CERN-like resource pooling initiative for AI development?

Our panelists from EU institutions, industry, academia and civil society discussed how the EU can best leverage its industrial policy to become a global leader in AI innovation.

• Dr Christiane Höhn, Head of Unit – Analysis & Research, Council of the European Union
• Prof Robert Trager, Senior Fellow at the University of Oxford
• Sabine Demey, Director of Flanders Artificial Intelligence Research Program, imec
• Max Reddel, Advanced AI Director, ICFG

• Leonardo Quattrucci, Adjunct Professor, Sciences Po and Senior Fellow, ICFG

Impressions