Europe in the AI ​​race: Start-ups are calling for more support and innovation!

Deutsche und französische Start-ups fordern EU-Investitionen in KI, um technologische Souveränität und Wettbewerbsfähigkeit zu sichern.
German and French start-ups are calling for EU investments in AI to secure technological sovereignty and competitiveness. (Symbolbild/ANAG)

Europe in the AI ​​race: Start-ups are calling for more support and innovation!

The discussion about strengthening artificial intelligence (AI) in Europe is becoming increasingly important. In a joint explanation, German and French start-ups demand more commitment to the development of AI. This Initiative is supported by the associations France Digital and the European Startup Network, which indicate the need for the technological sovereignty of Europe. Against the background of the growing dominance of AI giants from the USA and China, warn of a potential deficit for European actors.

Verena Pauster, the chairwoman of the German Startup Association, emphasizes how important a united and determined appearance in Europe is on this matter. The proposed package of measures to expand the AI ​​competence in Europe comprises four central points: First, it is required that more capital is made available by major investors to accelerate the growth opportunities of AI start-ups. Second, a Pan-European program should be launched to mobilize funds from insurers and pension funds.

regulatory adjustments and infrastructure

In addition, the authors strive for the declaration to compensate for the regulation in corporate law, taxes and in the work area to facilitate expansion of AI companies in Europe. Third, an increase in the use of AI in the public sector and for small and medium -sized companies is required. The governments of the member states should appear as early users of innovations.

Another critical point is the establishment of a resistant digital infrastructure in Europe, which is intended to reduce the dependency on global tech companies. This is considered essential to take a leadership role in new technologies such as quantum computing in the future. At the same time, the authors emphasized the need for fair competitive conditions to lift monopolies and reduce systematic disadvantages for European start-ups.

European success models and international competition

Currently there are only a few leading AI players in Europe. Outstanding examples are the French start-up Mistral Ai, which specializes in open source language models, and the German company Alph Alpha, which offers concrete AI solutions for corporate customers. Smaller German companies have also achieved success in specialized areas, such as Deepl in Cologne, known for its translation system, and Helsing in Munich, which developed AI-based solutions for the armaments industry.

Despite this success, however, a growing distance from the US competitors threatens. For example, the US program Stargate is investing $ 500 billion in new AI data centers and thus challenging innovative strength in Europe. In addition, the Chinese start-up Deepseek questions the superiority of American companies by offering inexpensive AI models. Despite these challenges, experts still see opportunities for Europe to reduce the gap.

EU initiatives to support KI

At the political level, the EU has taken important steps to build an ecosystem for advanced AI models. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, has actively committed herself to the construction of the first AI factories in Europe. These factories require an investment of 1.5 billion euros, with national and EU funds being combined. The EU finances half of this amount through the “Digital Europe” and Horizont Europe program to support AIF services.

The selected locations for these AI factories include the Super Computing Center in Barcelona, ​​the University of Linköping in Sweden and the University of Stuttgart in Germany. These initiatives show that the European countries have recognized how decisive the research and development landscape in the field of artificial intelligence is.

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