Editor’s Note: This article was originally authored by our colleague and BARC Fellow, Douglas Laney, and was first published on Forbes.com. We are republishing it with full permission, as we believe its insights are highly relevant to the topics we cover and valuable for our community.
As both the US and China forge ahead with massive investments in artificial intelligence, a significant gap is widening, threatening to leave Europe technologically stranded in the AI middle ground. The global AI race is not just about technological supremacy; it’s about economic competitiveness, national security, and the ability to shape the future of innovation. For European leaders, addressing this investment divide is now a critical strategic priority.
The consequences of inaction are stark. A persistent lag in AI investment could lead to a new form of technological dependency, where European industries rely on platforms and innovations controlled by other nations. This risks a “brain drain” of top AI talent to more dynamic ecosystems and could diminish Europe’s ability to compete in key sectors, from manufacturing and automotive to finance and healthcare.
To bridge this divide, Europe must pursue a multi-pronged strategy. This includes increasing public-private partnerships to fund large-scale AI research and infrastructure projects, fostering greater cross-border collaboration within the EU to create a true single market for data and AI, and establishing clear, innovation-friendly regulatory frameworks like the EU AI Act that build trust without stifling progress.
The window of opportunity is now. By creating a unified strategy that leverages its unique strengths in industrial data and high-quality engineering, Europe can not only close the investment gap but also define its own brand of human-centric, trustworthy AI.
Closing the AI investment divide is a critical strategic imperative for European competitiveness. However, investment alone is not enough; it must be paired with a clear strategy for generating a return. For leaders tasked with justifying these major AI initiatives, the fundamental question becomes: how do we convert our data and AI capabilities into measurable economic value? Our BARC+ subscription offers unrestricted access to our full research library to help answer this. A relevant analysis on this topic explores the key data monetization trends that market leaders are using to ensure their investments are profitable.
