Issue The EU lags global leaders and is itself split between northern and southern member states

Summary

This issue describes a two-layered gap in Europe's position in AI. The European Union trails the global leaders, the United States and China, despite programmes such as Horizon 2020 and a recent French announcement of €109 billion for the sector. Within the Union, research capacity is also uneven, with data pointing to a divide between northern and southern member states. Germany, France and the Netherlands produce more than half of the EU's AI output, although some southern universities, such as Patras in Greece, are among the fastest-rising winners of Horizon Europe AI grants. Averages for the whole Union can therefore hide the regional imbalances that policy needs to address.