Commission to invest €865 million to support fast and secure digital connectivity networks

Networks

Today, the Commission has adopted the second Work Programme for the digital part of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Digital, which defines the scope and objectives of EU-funded actions to improve Europe’s digital connectivity infrastructures. These actions will receive around €865 million of funding from 2024 to 2027.

Improving Europe’s connectivity infrastructure is fundamental for achieving Europe’s 2030 Digital Decade objectives to connect all citizens and business with 5G and gigabit connectivity. By fostering public and private investments, CEF Digital contributes to connectivity projects of common EU interest and to the deployment of safe, secure and sustainable high-performance infrastructure, such as Gigabit and 5G networks, across the EU.

The new CEF Digital Work Programme will support actions in the following areas:

    1. The deployment of 5G infrastructures in Europe, co-financing large-scale projects promoting the rollout of Gigabit and standalone 5G infrastructures, as well as the integration of edge cloud and computing capabilities in vertical sectoral applications, such as health, manufacturing, transport, and logistics;
    2. The deployment and significant upgrade of backbone networks, including quantum communication networks and submarine cables, to increase the performance, resilience, and capacity of connectivity networks within and between Member States, as well as between the Union and third countries;
    3. The deployment of operational digital platforms for transport or energy infrastructures, by optimising the energy use of information and communication technology (ICT) and reducing its environmental impact. These operational digital platforms will build on and integrate with existing and emerging European data, cloud and edge computing, and connectivity infrastructures, funded by the Digital Europe Programme and Horizon Europe.

Continue reading “Commission to invest €865 million to support fast and secure digital connectivity networks”

Europe boosts European AI developers with the AI Factories call for proposals

Ai2

Today, the Commission has launched a call for setting up AI Factories to boost European leadership in trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI). AI Factories will be created around the EU’s world-class network of European High-Performance Computing (HPC) supercomputers and will be available to a range of European users, such as startups, industry and researchers.

President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen said: “Europe is already leading the way with the EU AI Act, ensuring AI is safer and more trustworthy. Earlier this year, we fulfilled our promise by opening our high-performance computers to European AI start-ups. Now, Europe must also become a global leader in AI innovation. AI Factories will help secure our position at the forefront of this transformative technology.”

AI Factories will bring together the key ingredients for success in AI: computing power, data and talent. They will help AI developers train their large generative AI models by using the EuroHPC supercomputers and providing access to data, computing and storage services. The Factories will be networked across Europe, providing a unique European collaborative AI framework. Continue reading “Europe boosts European AI developers with the AI Factories call for proposals”

Europe’s innovation performance steadily improving

Innovation

… but at different speeds between Member States !

The innovation performance of the European Union continues to improve at a steady pace, reaching a 10% increase since 2017 and a growth of 0.5% between 2023 and 2024. According to the 2024 edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) published today, most EU Member States have boosted their innovation performance, but the increase varies strongly from one to another.

Key findings

Between 2023 and 2024, the national innovation performance has increased for 15 Member States, while it has declined for another group of 11. Croatia remained stable. Compared to the last edition:

  • Denmark remains the most innovative EU country followed by Sweden, which led the rankings between 2017-2022.
  • Two countries now belong to a different performance group. Estonia became a Strong Innovator following a steady growth pattern since 2017. Belgium, which was an Innovation leader in 2023, moved down to the Strong Innovators’ category, although it maintained its fifth position in the rankings overall.

A broader analysis, including other European countries and selected global competitors, shows a changing international landscape. Switzerland is the most innovative European country and South Korea remains the most innovative global competitor in 2024, while China has surpassed Japan and is progressively closing the gap with the EU. Continue reading “Europe’s innovation performance steadily improving”