EIC STEP Scale Up call for investments in strategic technology companies
In a geopolitical context marked by the unstoppable rise of the United States and China in the world of artificial intelligence, the European Union is making further efforts in this field to catch up with the two technological superpowers.
Recently, the European Commission awarded the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) seal to OpenEuroLLM, a project aimed at reclaiming the continent's digital sovereignty in the field of AI.
What is OpenEuroLLM?
OpenEuroLLM is a project aimed at reclaiming the continent's digital sovereignty in the field of AI through ethical, next-generation, and open-source Large Language Models for commercial, industrial, and public services.
This initiative involves a consortium of over 20 leading research centers, private companies, and high-performance computing institutes in Europe (also known as EuroHPC centers). The alliance is coordinated by Jan Hajič, a computational linguist from the University of Prague, and Peter Sarlin, co-founder of AMD Silo AI, the largest private artificial intelligence lab in Europe.
By bringing together all these stakeholders, the project aims to train high-performing, multilingual, and large-scale AI models, leveraging European supercomputers, all while reflecting European values of transparency, openness, and accessibility in compliance with the AI Act.
As explained in a statement by the European Commission, OpenEuroLLM has a total budget of 37.4 million euros, of which 20.6 million come from the Digital Europe program.
OpenEuroLLM Receives the STEP Seal
Given the strategic value of this project, the European Commission awarded it the Sovereignty Seal on February 3rd, the seal provided by the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) Regulation.
In particular, Brussels explains in a note, this is the first project funded by the Digital Europe program to receive this EU mark of excellence.
Thanks to this recognition, projects that score highly during the selection process of competitive procedures and calls will be valued, and in particular, the chances of accessing alternative funding for high-quality proposals not funded due to lack of resources will increase.
European Commission Announces Sovereignty Seal Projects
Translation AI assisted
