On December 11, 2025, EU-Startups participated in the AI Policy Day: Advancing AI in Europe organized by the European Commission – a full-day high-level event organized with the support of the StepUp StartUps, Innovation Radar Bridge initiatives, and hosted at AI House, Amsterdam.
The event brought together policymakers, startup founders, business leaders, investors and researchers for constructive discussions on how Europe can accelerate the adoption of AI while preserving its values of responsibility and trustworthiness.
Throughout the day, discussions converged on a common observation: Europe’s position in terms of AI is stronger than we often think. Participants highlighted the situation of the continent a strong research base, well-established industrial ecosystems and an expanding network of AI hubs as key assets for long-term competitiveness.
The discussions also reflected a broad consensus that regulation, including the EU AI law, is not seen as a barrier to innovation. Instead, many participants highlighted its role in promoting trust, legal certainty and the responsible deployment of AI. Clear and consistent regulatory frameworks are widely seen as a factor that can support competitiveness, alongside continued efforts to ensure proportionate and effective implementation that facilitates innovation and market adoption.
The discussions highlighted Europe’s structural strengths in AI, including its strong research base, established industrial ecosystems, specialized talent pools and access to sector-specific data.
As recent data confirms, it appears that Europe already occupies a leading position, particularly in terms of AI talent. The combination of these strengths has the potential to enable Europe to advance agentic and domain-driven AI solutions, particularly in complex and regulated sectors.
At the same time, participants recognized the continuing challenges of developing AI companies, particularly with regard to late-stage investments.
Even if start-up financing is relatively well developed, it remains difficult to obtain funding rounds exceeding 100 million euros. Discussions therefore focused on improving access to growth capital, particularly through greater mobilization of institutional investors and better alignment of and private financing instruments.
The StepUp StartUps consortium, in collaboration with Innovation Radar Bridge, played a central role in developing the content and analytical focus of the event.
This EU-funded initiative brings together partners including Barrabes.biz, DEEP Ecosystems, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS), Startup Europe Regions Network (SERN) and EU-Startups, with support from the European Startup Nations Alliance (ESNA).
Through a series of data-driven reports on key dynamics of the AI ecosystem – ranging from talent development to increasing investment gaps – the consortium provided evidence-based insights that informed and structured discussions throughout the day.
AI Policy Day also shared learnings from the new Innovation Radar Bridge report, which highlighted the AI startup and investment activity across 10 key industry sectors.
The program included contributions from a wide range of stakeholders, including Marietje Schaake, director of international policy at Stanford University; Eoghan O’Neill, senior policy officer at the European Commission; Marc Zegveld, Managing Director of TNO, together with representatives from the research, investment and legal communities, actively engaged in shaping the European AI landscape.
Overall, discussions on policy, talent and investment were marked by a constructive and forward-looking tone, reflecting a shared commitment to advancing the adoption of AI in a way that strengthens Europe’s competitiveness while defending its values and providing societal benefits.
AI Policy Day reaffirmed the importance of ongoing dialogue between policymakers and ecosystem stakeholders as Europe strives to translate the strengths of AI into sustainable impact at scale.