Last week, the European Commission announced a revolutionary package of measures aimed at bolstering Artificial Intelligence (AI) startups and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the European Union. This initiative follows the landmark political agreement reached in December 2023 on the EU AI Act, the European comprehensive law on Artificial Intelligence, designed to foster the development and uptake of trustworthy AI while adhering to EU values and regulations.
President von der Leyen, in her 2023 State of the Union address, pledged to make Europe’s supercomputers available to innovative European AI startups for training their trustworthy AI models. The Commission took the first step by launching the Large AI Grand Challenge in November 2023, a prize offering financial support and supercomputing access to AI startups. Today’s comprehensive package translates this commitment into action, featuring a myriad of measures to support AI startups and innovation.