According to a survey conducted by Strand Partners, over a third of EU firms have adopted AI, bringing digital goals within reach. The survey commissioned by Amazon Web Services (AWS) found that 38% of companies were experimenting with AI, which is a 32% growth rate over last year.

The EU aims to empower businesses and people in a human-centric, sustainable, and more prosperous digital future through its '2030 Digital Decade' vision, presented by the European Commission in 2021 to change the region, with 80% of the population learning basic digital skills, ubiquitous 5G connectivity, and 75% of EU firms using cloud services.

Why does it matter?

The EU initiative has concrete targets and objectives for 2030 that can be summarised in four points:
1. digitally skilled citizens and highly qualified digital professionals,
2. secure and sustainable digital infrastructures,
3. digital transformation of businesses, and
4. digitalization of public services.

The positive impact of AI is estimated to be an additional E600 billion to the bloc's economy, which would bring the estimated total economic impact of tech adoption in the EU to E3.4 trillion. However, SMEs report significant barriers to AI adoption, including finding the right talent, regulatory concerns, and the cost of implementation.