AI Policy Day: Scaling AI in Europe – Strengths, Challenges and the Path to Scale

The AI Policy Day examined how policy, investment and ecosystem collaboration can support the scaling of trustworthy AI and its uptake across Europe.

The Arrows

On 11 December 2025, the European Commission hosted the AI Policy Day: Scaling AI in Europe, a full-day high-level event organised with the support of the EU's StepUp StartUps and Innovation Radar Bridge initiatives, and convened at the AI House, in Amsterdam.

The event brought together policymakers, startup founders, corporate leaders, investors and researchers for constructive discussions on how Europe can accelerate adoption of AI while preserving its values of responsibility and trustworthiness.

Often overlooked: European considerable strengths in AI

Throughout the day, discussions converged on a shared assessment: Europe's position in AI is stronger than it is often perceived. Participants pointed to the continent's solid AI research base, its very high density of AI engineering talent, the growing network of AI Factories and over 11.000 AI startups, many of them actively pursuing opportunities in Europe's well-established industrial verticals. These were flagged as just some of the key assets for Europe's long-term competitiveness in the AI era (for an analysis of Europe's impressive levels of AI talent read the Stepup Startups 'AI Talent' report).

Regulation empowering innovation

Discussions also revealed a view - widely held among participants - that regulation, including the EU AI Act, was not a major barrier holding back innovation in the AI world. The role of stable and clear regulatory frameworks in fostering trust, providing legal certainty and enabling responsible AI deployment was acknowledged. There was recognition that the product safety focus of the AI Act builds on the proven success of product safety regulations in mitigating risks of other tech-driven industries such as aviation, medical devices and high-speed rail. The Commission's proposals simplify the AI Act's implementation - outlined in the Digital Omnibus - were broadly welcomed, in particular how they target SMEs and small mid-caps.

The challenge of scaleup investment in Europe

One key barrier to growth that was widely discussed at the event were persistent challenges for European AI companies when it comes late-stage investment. While early-stage funding is relatively well-developed in the EU, securing financing rounds above €100 million remains difficult, especially from European capital sources. This theme aligned with the findings of the Stepup Startups report on the AI Economy. Discussions focused on improving access to growth capital, including through greater mobilisation of institutional investors such as Pension Funds (see the Stepup Startups report on 'Unlocking Europe's Scale-up Potential' for an analysis of such potential for European Pension Funds).

Constructive optimism, underpinned by strength and industrial opportunities

The discussions on policy, talent and investment were marked by a constructive and forward-looking tone, reflecting a shared commitment to advancing AI adoption in ways that strengthen Europe's competitiveness while upholding its values and delivering societal benefits. In support of this, the EU's Apply AI Strategy outlines an ambitious set of flagship actions to drive AI adoption across industry and in the public sector. AI startup and investment activity across key industrial verticals is encouraging although some sectors remain underfunded (as revealed by Innovation Radar Bridge's recent Apply AI report).

The AI Policy Day reaffirmed the importance of continued dialogue between policymakers and ecosystem actors to help Europe translate its AI strengths into scaled impact in the economy and across society.

About the event

The event was organised by the European Commission in cooperation with the EU-funded StepUp Startups and Innovation Radar Bridge initiatives. The event's themes drew heavily on the series of data-driven reports on key AI ecosystem dynamics that these two initiatives authored. The even was also supported by the European Startup Nations Alliance (ESNA).

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