According to Innovation News Network, the European Commission just launched RAISE – the Resource for Artificial Intelligence Science in Europe – at a summit in Copenhagen. This virtual institute gets €107 million in initial Horizon Europe funding and aims to accelerate scientific discovery using AI. The project will provide researchers with priority access to AI ‘Gigafactories’ and high-performance computing while allocating €75 million specifically for training AI talent. The EU plans to eventually double its annual AI investment to over €3 billion, positioning RAISE as a cornerstone of Europe’s AI in science strategy.
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Europe’s AI ambition meets reality
Here’s the thing: Europe has been here before with big, collaborative research initiatives. The rhetoric sounds fantastic – pooling computational power, data, and talent across the continent to tackle everything from cancer therapies to earthquake prediction. But Europe’s research landscape is famously fragmented. National interests, different funding systems, and institutional rivalries have sunk plenty of ambitious pan-European projects before.
I can’t help but wonder: will researchers in Munich really share their best AI models with competitors in Paris? And what about the private sector? The announcement mentions collaboration but gives few details about how companies will participate. Basically, the success of RAISE hinges on overcoming decades of research silos that Europe has struggled to break down.
The funding question
€107 million sounds impressive until you compare it to what’s happening elsewhere. That’s barely a rounding error compared to what individual American tech companies are pouring into AI research. And the promised doubling to €3 billion annually? That’s still spread across the entire EU and includes all AI research, not just the science-focused RAISE initiative.
The real test will come after the pilot phase. The Commission says they’ll expand RAISE under the next EU budget from 2028-2034. But that’s multiple political cycles away. What happens if priorities shift or budget pressures emerge? Long-term sustainability sounds great in press releases, but it’s notoriously difficult in the real world of EU politics.
Talent retention – Europe’s perennial problem
They’re allocating €75 million to train and retain top AI professionals. That’s smart, but is it enough? Europe has been bleeding AI talent to Silicon Valley for years. Higher salaries, better resources, and more entrepreneurial ecosystems across the Atlantic have proven irresistible to many researchers.
Can access to AI Gigafactories and the promise of collaborative research really compete with the compensation packages and career opportunities elsewhere? Maybe. But Europe needs to offer more than just access to computing power. The initiative’s strategy documents talk about creating a “community,” but building that requires more than funding – it needs cultural change.
Virtual institute, real challenges
The virtual nature of RAISE is both its biggest strength and potential weakness. On one hand, it avoids the bureaucracy of physical infrastructure. On the other, virtual collaborations often struggle with coordination, intellectual property disputes, and maintaining momentum.
And let’s talk about those AI Gigafactories. The Apply AI Strategy framework sounds comprehensive, but Europe’s high-performance computing resources are already stretched thin. Will priority access for RAISE researchers come at the expense of other important scientific work?
Look, the ambition is admirable. Europe needs to step up its AI game, and focusing on scientific applications plays to the continent’s strengths in fundamental research. The RAISE website shows they’re thinking big. But turning this vision into tangible breakthroughs will require overcoming Europe’s deepest structural challenges in research collaboration. The money’s there – now we’ll see if the political will and institutional cooperation can match the rhetoric.
