Redirecting Europe’s AI Industrial Policy
Europe's AI industrial policy choices on procurement, infrastructure, and sovereignty offer a comparative lens for Australia's own emerging debates on these same questions.
Key points
- AI Now Institute report challenges Europe's AI industrial policy focus on competitiveness and sovereignty over public benefit.
- Covers public procurement, cloud infrastructure, trade policy, and open AI as levers for redirecting AI investment.
- Limited direct APS relevance; offers comparative framing for Australian debates on sovereign AI and public-interest computing.
Summary
The AI Now Institute has published a multi-author collection critically examining Europe's AI industrial policy, arguing that the dominant framing of 'competitiveness and sovereignty' risks entrenching tech concentration rather than delivering public benefit. Contributors cover topics including public procurement as a policy lever, cloud infrastructure ambitions, the EU Chips Act, trade policy, and the case for open public AI infrastructure. The report advocates redirecting public investment toward models that prioritise people and environmental sustainability. While EU-focused, its arguments on public procurement, sovereign infrastructure, and the concentration of AI power have analogues in ongoing Australian debates.
Implications for Australian agencies
- Monitor Policy teams working on Australia's AI industrial strategy or sovereign capability may want to monitor European debate on public-interest framing versus competitiveness-first approaches.
- Consider APS procurement and governance practitioners could consider whether the report's analysis of public procurement as an AI policy lever offers transferable lessons for Australian whole-of-government AI sourcing.
Implications are AI-generated. Starting points, not advice.
"Redirecting Europe’s AI Industrial Policy" Source: AI Now Institute – Publications Published: 15 October 2024 URL: https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/redirecting-europes-ai-industrial-policy The AI Now Institute has published a multi-author collection critically examining Europe's AI industrial policy, arguing that the dominant framing of 'competitiveness and sovereignty' risks entrenching tech concentration rather than delivering public benefit. Contributors cover topics including public procurement as a policy lever, cloud infrastructure ambitions, the EU Chips Act, trade policy, and the case for open public AI infrastructure. The report advocates redirecting public investment toward models that prioritise people and environmental sustainability. While EU-focused, its arguments on public procurement, sovereign infrastructure, and the concentration of AI power have analogues in ongoing Australian debates. Implications for Australian agencies: - [Monitor] Policy teams working on Australia's AI industrial strategy or sovereign capability may want to monitor European debate on public-interest framing versus competitiveness-first approaches. - [Consider] APS procurement and governance practitioners could consider whether the report's analysis of public procurement as an AI policy lever offers transferable lessons for Australian whole-of-government AI sourcing. Retrieved from SIMS, 18 May 2026.