Europe urged to accelerate AI adoption
The future competitiveness depends on decisive action to reduce dependencies and support faster AI deployment across diverse sectors.
European policymakers are being urged to accelerate the adoption of AI, as Christine Lagarde warns that Europe risks missing another major technological shift. Her message highlights that global AI investment is soaring, yet its economic impact remains limited, similar to that of earlier innovation waves.
Lagarde argues that AI could boost productivity faster than past technologies because the infrastructure already exists, and the systems can improve their own performance. Scientific progress powered by AI, such as the rapid prediction of protein structures, signals how R&D can scale far quicker than before.
Europe’s challenge, she notes, is not building frontier models but ensuring rapid deployment across industries. Strong uptake of generative AI by European firms is encouraging, but fragmented regulation, high energy costs and limited risk capital remain significant frictions.
Strategic resilience in chips, data centres and interoperable standards is also essential to avoid deeper dependence on non-European systems.
Greater cooperation in shared data spaces, such as Manufacturing-X and the European Health Data Space, could unlock competitive advantages. Lagarde emphasises that Europe must act swiftly, as delays would hinder adoption and erode industrial competitiveness.
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