The planned IPCEI-AI aims to develop a European continuum of federated and distributed AI services. The manifesto explicitly positions the initiative as complementary to 8ra and other strategic European technology initiatives.
European countries have published a joint manifesto setting out their ambition for a new Important Project of Common European Interest on a continuum of federated and distributed Artificial Intelligence services (IPCEI-AI).
The initiative is intended to support research, development and first industrial deployment of a new generation of AI technologies and services in Europe. Its goal is to create an open, distributed, sustainable and highly interoperable AI continuum, bringing together companies and technologies across borders and enabling industry- and sector-specific AI models, systems and services.
Strengthening Europe’s digital sovereignty
The manifesto places IPCEI-AI within Europe’s broader efforts to strengthen its technological resilience and digital sovereignty. European industry needs access not only to advanced AI models and software, but also to computing resources, cloud services and trusted industrial data, while reducing dependencies on third-party technologies and providers.
The planned IPCEI is intended to mobilise investment along the AI value chain and bring technological developments beyond the current global state of the art. Among the capabilities highlighted in the manifesto are industry-grade AI foundation models and agentic AI frameworks.
Potential applications span a broad range of sectors, including manufacturing, robotics, mobility, energy, semiconductors, agriculture, healthcare, defence, telecommunications and public administration.
Building on Europe’s cloud and edge infrastructure
The manifesto it explicitly identifies 8ra as one of the initiatives that IPCEI-AI is intended to complement. The IPCEI on advanced semiconductor technologies is also named as part of this wider European technology landscape.
This reflects the close connection between Europe’s ambitions in AI, cloud and edge computing. Advanced AI applications require access to scalable computing resources and interoperable infrastructures that can bring processing and services to where data is generated and used.
8ra is developing the technological foundations for an open, interoperable and distributed Multi-Provider Cloud-Edge Continuum. The planned IPCEI-AI could add another layer to this ecosystem by advancing the AI models, tools and services that operate on such infrastructure.Together, these developments point towards a more integrated European technology value chain – from semiconductors and computing infrastructure to cloud, edge and AI applications.
Next steps towards IPCEI-AI
National project selection and the submission of the first pre-notification documents to the European Commission are planned for September 2026. Selected national projects could start from the first quarter of 2027.