AI for Manufacturing, Engineering and Construction: Commission Launches Flagship Actions under the Apply AI Strategy

The European Commission has announced on 8 October a new set of flagship actions to boost the use of artificial intelligence (AI) across manufacturing, engineering, and construction, under the Apply AI Strategy.

The manufacturing sector is a key pillar of the European economy, comprising 2.2 million enterprises, mostly SMEs, and employing around 30 million people. It contributes roughly a quarter of the EU’s total business economy revenue. Yet, in recent years, production has increasingly relocated to lower-cost regions, challenging Europe’s competitiveness and strategic autonomy.

AI and automation have the potential to reverse this trend by enhancing efficiency, precision, and adaptability in industrial processes. A central technology in this transformation is AI-powered digital twins, enabling companies to simulate and optimise production systems, supply chains, and infrastructure in virtual environments before implementation in the real world.

To accelerate the uptake of AI in manufacturing, the Commission will:

• support the development of frontier AI models adapted to manufacturing. Building on the Data Spaces for Manufacturing and the forthcoming Data Union Strategy, the Commission will facilitate data pooling across industrial actors through trusted third parties aiming to ensure a sufficient volume of training data while preserving intellectual property and data security and making use, as relevant, of the data labs in AI Factories.
• fund the development of Acceleration Pipelines for the adoption of AI in manufacturing, bridging the gap between research labs and deployment more effectively. These projects will accelerate the development of AI-powered manufacturing solutions that address industry needs, by providing continuous support, ensuring that these solutions progress from the lab to a high level of maturity suitable for real-world applications.

In addition, the Commission will strengthen the Testing and Experimentation Facility (TEF) for manufacturing, helping innovative companies validate and certify AI-driven machinery.

These actions aim to make Europe’s manufacturing ecosystem smarter, more resilient, and globally competitive, paving the way for the next generation of sustainable, AI-enabled industry.