Progress Report on the Implementation of the EU Coordinated Plan on Artificial Intelligence (Volume 1): Actions by Member States

Key Chapter Title List

1. Overview
2. Creating Conditions for AI Development and Adoption in the EU
3. Making the EU the Right Place: Excellence from Lab to Market
4. Ensuring AI Serves People
5. Building Strategic Leadership in High-Impact Sectors
6. Gathering, Pooling, and Sharing Policy Insights
7. Unlocking Data Potential and Nurturing Key Computing Capabilities
8. Building and Mobilizing Research Capacity
9. Funding and Promoting Innovative AI Ideas and Solutions
10. Cultivating Talent and Improving Skills Supply for a Thriving AI Ecosystem

Document Introduction

This report is a core output of the collaborative project between the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Commission to monitor the implementation progress of the EU Coordinated Plan on Artificial Intelligence. As the first volume in a series, this report focuses on policy implementation and action progress at the level of the 27 EU Member States. It systematically reviews the national strategies, governance frameworks, and specific measures taken by each country since the revision of the EU Coordinated Plan on AI in 2021 to support AI development and application. The report aims to comprehensively assess the current situation, identify common issues, showcase best practices, and provide an evidence-based foundation for promoting coordination and cooperation at the EU level.

The report's research methodology combines desk research, targeted online surveys, and online interviews with relevant competent authorities in the Member States. The survey was conducted from July to October 2024, and the interviews took place from September to December 2024. Based on information collected and validated up to December 2024, the report compiled country notes. These were reviewed at meetings of the AI Governance Working Group (AIGO) and the AI Innovation Subgroup of the EU AI Board in June 2025, with feedback from participants integrated.

The study finds that EU Member States have reached a broad consensus on AI strategy development. By the end of 2024, 24 Member States had adopted national AI strategies, with the remaining 3 in the process of developing them. The vast majority of national strategies are guided by the EU Coordinated Plan and have generally been updated or revised in recent years in response to the rise of generative AI, technological developments, and regulatory changes (such as the EU AI Act). However, significant differences exist among Member States regarding governance and monitoring. While most countries have established cross-ministerial coordination and multi-stakeholder governance structures, less than half have set clear Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for their AI strategies, and regular public evaluation reports are not common practice. Tracking public investment in AI also faces challenges. Only a few countries have dedicated budgets for their AI strategies; most embed AI funding within broader digitalization strategies, making precise accounting and cross-country comparison difficult.

Regarding the development of enabling conditions, over half of the Member States have formulated national data strategies, two-thirds have cloud computing strategies, over two-thirds are strengthening high-performance computing capabilities, and more than half support the development of the semiconductor ecosystem. Building research capacity is a pillar of most national strategies. Over half of the Member States have established national-level AI Excellence Centers and launched large-scale AI R&D funding programs. However, cross-center and cross-country collaborative networks remain weak. In promoting technology transfer and market application, European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) have branches in all Member States, providing technical support to businesses, especially SMEs. Nearly half of the Member States reported initiatives related to AI testing and experimentation facilities. Approximately two-thirds have introduced measures to help SMEs adopt AI and to support AI startups and scale-ups.

The report pays special attention to the implementation of the two pillars focusing on a human-centric approach and high-impact sectors. In education and skills, Member States are integrating AI into digital literacy programs from basic to higher education and expanding adult skills retraining programs. However, systematic monitoring of AI courses and graduate numbers is not yet widespread. Initiatives to attract AI talent also primarily focus on academia, with projects addressing industry needs being significantly insufficient. Regarding application in key sectors, healthcare and the public sector are the most commonly addressed areas in national AI strategies, followed by transport, climate and environment, and agriculture. Despite the growing number of application cases, Member States commonly face shared challenges such as policy fragmentation, limited cross-border coordination, inadequate data-sharing frameworks, and constraints in human capital, which limit AI's potential to fully unleash its transformative power in these sectors.