For years, Europe has been the great regulatory power of the digital world. From the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to the recent AI Act, the European Union has dedicated enormous efforts to designing frameworks that guarantee security, transparency and ethics in the use of technology.
This strategy has allowed her to adopt a certain role of moral leadership, but it has also turned her, in the eyes of many, into an actor more concerned with controlling than creating. Now, with the launch of the new “Apply AI” program, endowed with one billion euros, Brussels seems willing to try to change course: to move from the legislative laboratory to that of practice.
The objective of the plan is clear: accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence in key sectors such as health, energy, manufacturing, automotive or agriculture, and do so in a coordinated manner between Member States, research centers and companies. It is not just about financing experimental developments, but about ensuring that artificial intelligence is integrated into the real economy.
In other words, Europe should stop talking about artificial intelligence in terms of risk or compliance and Start seeing it as a tangible driver of productivity and competitiveness.
The magnitude of the announcement is not trivial. The funds, combined between public and private contributions, seek to catalyze specific projects, create common data infrastructures and offer European companies artificial intelligence tools trained in safe environments compatible with community regulations.
Artificial intelligence is not only a question of rights, but of global competitiveness
It is an attempt to show that ethics and innovation are not exclusive, and that the continent can develop its own technological model without copying that of Silicon Valley or Beijing.
The change in tone is, in itself, significant: until now, much of the political discourse around artificial intelligence in Europe focused on preventing its risks: biases, opacity, labor impacts, privacy. Which of course are essential topics, but insufficient if they are not accompanied by an economic vision.
Artificial intelligence is not only a question of rights, but of global competitiveness: If Europe does not manage to integrate these tools into its productive fabric, it will be condemned to depending on the systems, platforms and models developed by others.
The challenge of “Apply AI” is precisely to transform the conversation and, above all, the practice. Move from rhetoric about digital sovereignty to productive sovereignty, from principles to results.
To achieve this, the European Commission wants to facilitate companies’ access to open foundational models, promote the exchange of industrial data and reduce entry barriers for SMEs. It is not about reinventing the wheel, but about make it easier for artificial intelligence to stop being a luxury reserved for large technology corporations.
Technology is not domesticated with speeches, but with real projects, with data, with talent and with sustained investment
The implications for Spain are particularly interesting. Our country has sectors where the practical application of artificial intelligence can have an immediate impact: precision agriculture, energy management, logistics, tourism, public health and others.
But it also faces an obstacle common to the rest of Europe: fragmentation. Too many local initiatives, too many disconnected programs, too many funds lost in bureaucracy. If “Apply AI” wants to work, it will have to bet heavily on scale and transnational collaboration, not by the repetition of small pilots without continuity.
The plan can also be an opportunity to redefine the relationship between regulation and innovation. It is not about abandoning the protection of fundamental rights, but about understanding that regulation should be a platform, not a wall. That standards serve to generate trust and guarantee quality standards, not to slow down adoption.
In that sense, “Apply AI” may be the missing piece in the European puzzle: the demonstration that Safe and responsible artificial intelligence can be, at the same time, agile and profitable.
Of course, there are clear risks. Europe has not historically been known for its speed in implementing innovation programs, and the management of funds of this caliber can be hampered by administrative complexity, national differences or competing industrial interests.
There is also the danger that a good part of the resources end up concentrating on a few large players, leaving out startups and SMEs, which, paradoxically, are the ones that need the most support to compete. Or that the companies that benefit from these funds end up, for example the shortage of venture capital and investors, in the hands of big tech on the other side of the pond.
Even so, the step taken by Brussels is important and, above all, necessary. Talking about artificial intelligence without applying it is like discussing the weather without leaving an air-conditioned office. Europe needs to demonstrate that its ethical vision can be translated into practical innovation, and that the values it defends can be a competitive advantage, not a burden. Technology is not domesticated with speeches, but with real projects, with data, with talent and with sustained investment.
“Apply AI” will not solve all the problems of a continent that is late to many technological revolutions, but it can at least hope to mark a turning point. It is the opportunity to demonstrate that Europe not only regulates the digital future, but builds it.
From paper to code, from standards to product, from prevention to action. If this time Brussels delivers what it promises, the continent could begin to be known not only for its ability to legislate, but also for its ability to create.
***Enrique Dans is Professor of Innovation at IE University.