New IPCEI Expressions of Interest open for Artificial Intelligence in Europe
12, January, 2026
Europe is stepping up its efforts to strengthen its technological independence in artificial intelligence. A new Important Project of Common European Interest on Artificial Intelligence (IPCEI-AI) is now taking shape, alongside a complementary initiative on edge computing infrastructure, known as IPCEI-CIC. Together, they build on earlier European investments in cloud technologies and aim to create a strong, sovereign foundation for AI development and deployment across Europe. To understand their significance, it is useful to look at the broader framework in which they sit.
Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEIs) are large-scale European cooperation projects designed to address strategic technological and industrial challenges that no single country can tackle alone. They bring together multiple EU Member States, public authorities, and private actors, often including major industrial players, innovative SMEs and research organisations, around shared objectives.
Supported by national public funding and approved by the European Commission under a dedicated state-aid framework, IPCEIs enable highly ambitious investments while ensuring that results benefit the wider European economy. In this way, they align national efforts with long-term European priorities, including the goal of strengthening Europe’s digital sovereignty and reducing strategic dependencies in key technologies.
From cloud foundation to AI: IPCEI-CIS, 8ra and the role of CISERO
The European cloud market is highly fragmented, with numerous small providers struggling to compete with large global players. To address this challenge, 12 EU Member States have joined forces under the IPCEI framework to develop a European multi-provider cloud-edge continuum. The IPCEI on Cloud Infrastructure and Services (IPCEI-CIS), is funding instrument, that supports national investments in interoperable, secure and energy-efficient cloud and edge services across Europe.
Industrial AI will be the engine of the next industrial revolution, therefore European industries need equal access to sufficient computing and data resources for AI to reduce their dependence on non-European solutions and providers. The IPCEI-AI will build on the foundational work of the IPCEI-CIS; it uses a systemic and holistic approach across the entire lifecycle of AI models by considering data provision, common AI base models, highly specialized sector-specific AI models, AI operations, open access as well as advanced AI applications.
As IPCEI-funding is time-limited, the 8ra Initiative acts as the technical and industrial umbrella that ensures the long-term sustainability of the solutions developed in IPCEI-CIS. It provides a stable framework in which these solutions can be adopted, maintained, and further evolved. In addition, the 8ra Initiative will incorporate future IPCEIs, such as IPCEI-AI and IPCEI-CIC, ensuring continuity, effective knowledge transfer, and the onboarding of new actors .
Within this ecosystem, CISERO plays a complementary role by focusing on exploitation, dissemination and impact of IPCEI-CIS project results. It facilitates collaboration among stakeholders and connects technical developments with policy and market discussions. In doing so, CISERO ensures that outcomes generated under IPCEI-CIS and the 8ra initiative are visible, reusable and scalable at European level.
Together, IPCEI-CIS, 8ra and CISERO form an important part of Europe’s digital ecosystem: IPCEI-CIS investment drives technology development, 8ra transforms these developments into interoperable, sustained solutions, and CISERO helps translate results into broader European impact.
What IPCEI-AI adds to Europe’s Artificial Intelligence ecosystem
As Europe builds on its cloud and computing foundations, IPCEI-AI was launched to address the next step: the development and deployment of advanced artificial intelligence technologies. While IPCEI-CIS and IPCEI-CIC focus on infrastructure and computing capacity, IPCEI-AI targets the AI technologies themselves. Its ambition is to create a next-generation European AI ecosystem, covering the full lifecycle of AI systems: access to high-quality data, training of advanced AI models, adaptation to specific sectors or companies, and deployment in real-world applications.
IPCEI-AI places strong emphasis on openness and reuse. Alongside proprietary solutions, it encourages open-source components, shared platforms and common governance approaches. The goal is to ensure that AI developed in Europe can be trusted, energy-efficient and compliant with European rules, while remaining accessible to a wide range of actors, from industry and research to public administrations.
Turning ideas into a European project: national Expressions of Interest
The transition from ambition to implementation now depends on the active involvement of stakeholders across Europe. This is why national Expressions of Interest (EoIs) for IPCEI-AI are being launched by the participating Member States.
Through these calls, companies, research organisations and other actors are invited to put forward project ideas that align with the objectives of IPCEI-AI. These submissions represent an early but essential step. Rather than resulting in isolated national projects, they are used to identify complementary ideas that can be aligned and combined at European level.
The most promising proposals will be discussed, matched and consolidated into a single, integrated European IPCEI-AI project, which will then be assessed and, if successful, formally approved by the European Commission under EU state-aid rules.
Organisations are invited to explore how they can contribute to the future of European artificial intelligence, building on shared cloud, edge and computing foundations supported by IPCEI CIS initiative.
More information on the national calls and how to get involved is available on 8ra website.