‘We have no time to waste’: Germany launches €125M push to build Europe’s frontier AI

Germany’s federal innovation agency, SPRIND, announced a €125 million AI competition named “Next Frontier AI” to foster Europe’s AI industry and potentially create rivals to the leading US and Chinese companies like OpenAI and DeepSeek.
This initiative comes from an increasing European concern about dependency on foreign AI companies, driven by the rapid advancements and substantial funding from US and China in AI technologies.
“Next Frontier AI” will progress in three stages over 24 months, funding up to ten teams in the first stage, six in the second, and three in the final stage, offering significant sums ranging from €3 million to €15.5 million.
Despite the funding, Europe recognizes that more is needed to compete globally. SPRIND’s head of challenges, Jano Costard, mentions that the goal is to unlock billions in additional funding and emphasizes focusing on developing new, unforeseen AI paradigms.
A key part of the initiative is addressing the challenges faced by European startups to scale, including the push towards a unified company law (EU Inc) and the need for quicker, smoother public funding processes to retain top talent.
Costard highlights Europe’s potential to excel in AI by leveraging its industrial data and know-how, alongside a privacy-centric approach, as unique advantages that can make it a global player in AI.

You may have missed