The European Commission's Apply AI Strategy explains how the EU moves from developing AI to using it at scale in real economic sectors and public administrations. It is Europe's central sectoral AI strategy. It addresses the industrial and public application of AI and, together with AI in Science, forms the strategic core of the EU AI system under the umbrella of the AI Continent Action Plan. Unlike earlier EU AI initiatives (that focused mainly on research and pilot projects), the strategy places strong emphasis on large-scale deployment, sector ownership and operational use of AI solutions. It focuses on sectoral flagships, AI infrastructures, data spaces, regulatory support, and a European AI-first decision-making logic.

Knowledge of underlying EU policies and legislations is a key element in Digital Europe proposals as they play an important role in the “relevance” evaluation criterion. This Policy Briefing is one of several briefings prepared by DEP4ALL, the NCP Network for the Digital Europe programme, to support applicants with summaries of relevant EU initiatives.