The AI Office has published the report containing the conclusions of the first Expert Forum on Frontier AI, a meeting that brought together more than one hundred experts from industry, research, academia, investment and public administrations to discuss how the European Union can strengthen its competitiveness, sovereignty and security in the field of frontier artificial intelligence.

The meeting, held in April 2026, provided an opportunity to discuss the opportunities and challenges posed by this technology, as well as to identify the actions that the European Commission and the Member States should take to strengthen their capabilities in this field. The recommendations also emphasise the need for Europe to be able to access, use and benefit from the most advanced AI models, even if they have been developed outside the Union.

Main conclusions

The next two years will be decisive

One of the report’s main conclusions is that Europe has a very limited window of opportunity to strengthen its position in the development of frontier AI. According to the experts, technological progress has been extraordinary over the past three years, while international competition has accelerated significantly.

Although the European Union stands out for the quality of its research and the training of highly skilled talent, the development of the most advanced models is concentrated mainly outside Europe. The experts point out that the available computing capacity and funding for scaling companies are still insufficient to compete in this field.

Creating a more favourable environment

The report highlights that the development of frontier AI is driven primarily by private investment. For this reason, it considers it a priority to remove the obstacles that hinder the growth of European companies.

The proposed measures include expanding computing infrastructure and ensuring the necessary energy supply, facilitating access to funding for growing companies, providing greater legal certainty regarding the data used to train AI models, and strengthening policies to attract and retain talent.

The experts also recommend supporting high-risk and high-impact projects that could enable Europe to lead in specific technological areas.

Strengthening Europe’s strategic autonomy

As the leading frontier AI models are currently developed outside the European Union, the report considers it essential to ensure that Europe maintains the ability to access and use these models under favourable conditions.

To achieve this, the experts propose making better use of Europe’s strengths, including the size of the Single Market, its regulatory capacity, its industrial base and its leadership in certain segments of the AI value chain.

They also note that cooperation with trusted countries and partners can help strengthen Europe’s capabilities and influence in this field.

Keeping pace with technological progress

The report concludes that European policies must evolve at the same pace as technology. To this end, the experts recommend setting ambitious targets for 2030 and making the development of frontier AI a strategic priority by providing European institutions with the resources and structures needed to drive these efforts.

Next steps

The AI Office will group the recommendations according to their level of priority and work with the different stakeholders involved to support their implementation. It will also continue to promote the exchange of knowledge and experience within the Expert Forum on Frontier AI through additional written contributions and dedicated workshops.

What is frontier AI?

Frontier AI is the term used to describe the most advanced artificial intelligence systems available at any given time. These models are capable of solving complex tasks, generating text, images or code, analysing large volumes of information, and supporting research, development and decision-making activities.

The term does not refer to a specific technology, but rather to the set of AI models that represent the state of the art in artificial intelligence at each stage of its development.

Learn more

1. Report from Expert Forum on Frontier AI – Enhancing Competitiveness Sovereignty and Security (PDF)
2. List of Experts – Expert Forum on Frontier AI (PDF)
3. Key insights from the first meeting of the European Expert Forum on Frontier AI (PDF)