FORWARD - European Perspectives on Tech & Society - No. 02 (EU)

European Perspectives on Tech & Society

Unlocking Europe’s AI Potential

Pictured:

José María & Manuel from AI startup, Idoven.

Which critical elements of AI infrastructure, adoption and security are essential to unlock Europe’s potential?

The foundation of innovation

Why infrastructure is vital for competitiveness: A conversation with Marianne Janik, Vice President, EMEA North — Google Cloud.

Early innovations to future frontiers

Google has been working on AI for over two decades. An overview of the most important milestones – and an interview with the Chief Operating Officer of Google Deepmind on the future of AI.

AI helps save hearts

Manuel Marina Breysse and José María Lillo created Willem, an AI that reads ECGs with expert accuracy. Their goal: to transform cardiology through AI.

Ads with impact

Startups Holafly and Raus demonstrate how personalised digital ads can help to grow smart and scale fast.

Go hands-free and listen to the podcast version of this magazine, generated by Google’s NotebookLM. Scan the QR code to find the podcast, and while you’re there, ask NotebookLM questions about any article for deeper insights.

From crisis to digital power

In an interview, Valeriya Ionan, Adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, explains how AI innovation turns crisis into power.

Driving public good with AI

AI can help modernise public services and make institutions more efficient. Innovating with AI helps governments and citizens.

Transforming cybersecurity

Europe is experiencing a surge in cyberattacks. AI could be a game changer that helps fortify the continent’s cyberdefenses.

Navigating a connected world with confidence

Ensuring young people’s online safety is crucial. The Future Report gathers insights from 7,000 teens across Europe.

Dear Europe

For nearly 25 years, Europe has been a place where Google builds, learns and grows – with shared ambitions for a resilient digital future.

COVER PHOTO: JULIEN LIÉNARD; ILLUSTRATION: CAMILO HUINCA

Debbie Weinstein President, Google EMEA

Curious, Capable, Connected

Growing up, my mom worked as a librarian at the local school. I can remember spending hours surrounded by books, learning about everything from different kinds of cats to how to make the best chocolate chip cookies. My brother and I were endlessly eager to learn, and our parents encouraged that curiosity as something worth nurturing. Access to information wasn’t just useful, it was essential.

Years later, when I moved into a leadership position at Google, I found myself surrounded by people who shared that same belief: that human curiosity is one of the most powerful forces for progress and that making information universally accessible and useful is a mission worth pursuing. Curiosity, it turns out, is boundless. Every year we see over 5 trillion searches on Google — and every day, 15% of those searches are brand new: they’ve literally never been asked before. I find that incredible: that after more than 25 years of Search, people are still finding so many new questions to ask!

Today, we’re at the beginning of the most profound and exciting transformation of our lifetimes — the era of AI. It’s not just a technological shift; it’s a new way to ask and answer questions, discover ideas and solve problems. At Google, we’ve been building the infrastructure and innovations to support this shift for a decade, and now we’re seeing the impact at scale: from faster scientific discovery and real-time crisis response to new AI-powered tools that are changing how we stream, search, scroll and shop.

For businesses, this is no longer a future conversation. AI is helping brands to keep up with humanity’s boundless curiosity and navigate a landscape that is predictably unpredictable. Whether it’s engaging with more precision, supporting the creation and production of content in a matter of minutes or hours, or making measurement and optimization possible in real time, companies that embrace this moment aren’t just adapting — they’re pulling ahead.

As this shift continues, Google will remain a trusted partner for Europe. AI could boost the EU economy by €1.2 trillion within a decade — boosting European growth, innovation and competitiveness. We want to ensure that potential is realized: driving innovation responsibly and investing in people, research and partnerships that foster sustainable growth and shared success.

This issue of FORWARD explores how businesses and leaders across Europe are stepping into that future — boldly, responsibly, together. You’ll find stories of innovation, resilience and, above all, curiosity. I hope you enjoy reading our second issue of FORWARD and that it inspires you to ask: how might you embrace your own curiosity to discover what AI can help you achieve?

Yours,

Debbie Weinstein

EUROPE’S AI INNOVATION OPPORTUNITY

In an era of diverse challenges, artificial intelligence offers a unique opportunity to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness. What critical elements of AI infrastructure, adoption and security are essential to unlock Europe’s potential and close its innovation gap with other regions?

In September 2024, Europe received a serious warning, a wake-up call delivered by Mario Draghi’s critical report on »The future of European competitiveness«. According to the report, the EU lacks industrial dynamism, innovation and investment. In addition, its productivity growth is low. Europe might face »slow agony« caused by three fundamental structural challenges: an aging workforce, fierce export competition in increasingly restricted global markets and a lack of competitiveness in advanced technology.

One of the most important challenges mentioned in the report is the innovation gap between Europe and the United States – especially due to slow productivity growth and lagging tech innovation and adoption. In fact, EU economic growth has been persistently slower than in the US over the past two decades. Around 70% of the gap in per capita GDP compared to the US is explained by lower productivity in the EU. »For the last decades, the key driver of the rising productivity gap between the EU and the US has been digital technology – and Europe currently looks set to fall further behind«, says Martin Thelle, Senior Partner at Implement Consulting Group. He and his team took a closer look at Europe's innovation gap and AI’s potential to close it. They found that closely connected to the innovation gap is an R&D investment gap. »What’s interesting is that the primary explanation behind Europe’s R&D gap compared to the US is a discrepancy in private R&D investment«, explains Martin Thelle. Current figures show that public R&D investment levels are similar with 0.7% in the EU against 0.8% of GDP in the US.

Another reason for the innovation gap is that R&D intensity in Europe’s high-tech sectors did not keep pace when US high-tech intensified R&D around 2013. The increase was triggered by new scientific discoveries in deep learning and amplified by R&D-friendly policies and cheap capital following the financial crisis. European businesses failed to sufficiently invest in these new opportunities. For over 20 years, the same companies, mostly from the automotive sec-

tor, have dominated EU R&D activity. Researchers call this »the middle technology trap«, meaning that the technology is neither cost-effective nor at the cutting edge, thus failing to yield significant returns.

According to analysts, it will be challenging to reverse this underinvestment in the short term. Nevertheless, many experts and politicians consider AI to be the biggest opportunity when it comes to closing the innovation gap and strengthening Europe’s competitiveness. And according to Ursula von der Leyen, President of the EU Commission, the AI race is far from being over: »We’re only at the beginning«, she said during the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit (2025). »The frontier is constantly moving. Global leadership is still up for grabs.«

Potential to boost GDP by 8%

In plain figures, AI’s potential economic impact is huge – yet its realisation depends on how Europe will approach AI. According to Implement Consulting, a scenario following the current policy environment with widespread adoption and access to the best AI models has the potential to boost GDP in the EU by 8%, equivalent to EUR 1.2-1.4 trillion in 10 years. In this scenario, the development of the AI value chain occurs on market terms.

Limiting AI adoption would mean endangering one of Europe’s current strengths. OECD and EU figures show that a number of smaller European countries display higher labour productivity than that of the US despite not being major developers of foundational digital technologies. And countries like Denmark and Switzerland consistently rank high in digital public services, broadband coverage and ICT usage by businesses. This can largely be attributed to the countries’ effective adoption and integration of digital tools. And it shows that Europe’s opportunity lies not only in creating new technologies but in scaling and integrating them – based on a robust technological and legislative infrastructure and a secure environment.

»Huge Potential for AI Adoption«

Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, on how the EU is planning to foster AI development.

This interview is an excerpt from an opening keynote interview at an event hosted by the Financial Times and Google in the spring of 2025.

Europe is often seen as lagging behind the US and China in terms of AI. How do you see it?

It’s important to underline that Europe has many strengths when it comes to AI, especially in the scientific and research sector. We have more researchers on AI than any other continent in the world per capita. For example, there are 30% more AI researchers in Europe than in the US. Furthermore, thousands of startups in the EU are working on AI.

What’s lacking in terms of infrastructure?

It starts with access to computing capacity. That’s why we now support investments in EuroHPC supercomputers. The goal is to increase our computing capacity within a one-year timeframe by a factor of five. We are calling these supercomputers AI factories. We have decided to build 13 of these supercomputers. The funding is split between the EU and the member states. We want to open this computing capacity for researchers and startups to develop AI. Furthermore, we are striving for supercomputer gigafactories, which will have four times more computing capacity than our best supercomputers today. Another important infrastructure aspect is that in future we’ll need capacities to design and produce AI chips in the EU. We are working on that.

How can these projects be funded?

We need to invest billions, and we’re creating public-private partnerships for these projects. Europe is quite good at organising public funding of technologies and digitalisation. But, quite often, there’s a lack of private funding. That’s why we are now working on that topic with the European Investment Bank. In March 2025, we unveiled our savings and investment union strategy. One big obstacle to scaling up businesses in Europe is that companies, investors and developers lack access to financing in the European Union. We have to make clear to companies that Europe is a good place to invest.

In April 2025, the EU published the AI Continent Action Plan. What are its main targets and measures to help to foster AI development?

There are five main pillars. The first one is the infrastructure part I’ve already mentioned. The second part focuses on access to data and data availability for AI developers. So far, less than 10% of the EU’s industrial data is used! Thirdly, the plan contains an Apply AI strategy to make sure that strategic industries and our public sector are using AI.

Fourth, we will need a skilled workforce and talented people with AI expertise. It’s important because Europe is an aging continent. We need to educate people in our member states and provide opportunities to update their skills. At the same time, we need to get better at attracting talented people from all over the world. Finally, the fifth part is about simplification of current regulation. We want to make sure that our rules are also fit for purpose and attract AI innovation and investment. We want to create an environment that encourages innovation and investment.

How can the EU economy be moved to quickly adopt AI? We have to bring together Europe’s AI developers and researchers and our traditional industry. There’s huge potential. After publishing our AI Continent Action Plan, we opened a consultation on how to apply this AI strategy. We will have structured dialogues with different industry stakeholders to understand how we can support developments. I’m thinking about the automotive sector, the energy sector and the public sector. We also know that in justice and in healthcare systems, there is huge potential for AI adoption.

AI INFRASTRUCTURE AND INNOVATION

»Digital services platforms are more than intermediaries; they act as organisation structures that orchestrate interactions between users and businesses, facilitate data flows and enable the valuable integration of tools and services.«

Carmelo Cennamo, Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Copenhagen Business School

»Europe still has an opportunity to change track. With the world now on the cusp of another digital revolution, triggered by the spread of artificial intelligence (AI), a window has opened for Europe to redress its failings in innovation and productivity and to restore its manufacturing potential.«

Mario Draghi, former European Central Bank President and Prime Minister of Italy (taken from »Draghi report on EU competitiveness«)

Infrastructure and innovation play a major role in the Draghi report and the initiatives that followed. The EU Compass and the AI Continent Action Plan stress the need to expand physical infrastructure such as supercomputers – where Europe is quite strong already. According to Implement Consulting, Europe runs 26% of the world’s Top 500 supercomputers and ranks second in quantum computing patents, giving it the power and know-how to join the global AI innovation frontier.

Other fields of infrastructure need to develop quickly to close the infrastructure and innovation gaps. For example, forecasters project European data centre capacity will need to double or triple towards 2030 to meet future demand. To expand capacity, Europe must leverage the best available and most cost-effective solutions. As Marianne Janik, Vice President, EMEA North – Google Cloud explains (see interview page 11), Google is highly committed to enabling European innovation through infrastructure investments. She also points out that Google is committed to leveraging digital technologies to support Europe’s decarbonisation goals, which are an important part of the EU Compass.

Besides physical infrastructure, R&D is vital for enabling a thriving AI ecosystem. But in 2023, the EU spent 2.2% of its GDP on R&D, amounting to a total of EUR 386 billion, while the US spent 3.5% (corresponding to EUR 884 billion). Japan’s R&D spending has historically been above or on par with the US as a percentage of GDP, while China has rapidly increased R&D spending and is now at Europe’s level as a percentage of GDP. For Europe to catch up with other world regions, private investments will need to go up, and partnerships between startups, researchers and traditional and high-tech companies such as Google may further help to foster AI innovation.

»We need to improve our ecosystems in Europe so that at the end of the day startups don’t leave. And actually there is already a very positive trend. According to the European Tech Report, the ecosystem is growing.«

Amaryllis

Verhoeven,

Head of Unit for Digital Transformation of Industry,

DG GROW, European Commission

AI ADOPTION AND ACCESSIBILITY

»Actually, it’s quite easy, because as you know, we are a company of engineers. Our people are curious and interested in new technologies, so when they saw AI, they said, ›Okay, I want to use it in my work.‹«

Rodolphe Gelin, Lead AI Expert, Renault Group

While infrastructure is the backbone of AI innovation, widespread adoption and adaptation of AI are vital for boosting productivity and unlocking AI’s economic potential. According to the EU Competitiveness Compass, integrating AI into strategic sectors where Europe has traditionally been strong will be critical to maintaining their competitive edge. AI’s actual potential depends on businesses’ ability to adopt and innovate with AI: Implement Consulting estimates that if European companies only manage to assist and automate tasks at a low difficulty level, generative AI could boost GDP by 2% in 10 years. However, if businesses find innovative applications to help with difficult and complex tasks, the potential is estimated to rise to an 11% GDP boost.

In its AI Continent Action Plan, the EU also makes clear that the digital skills gap needs to be overcome if companies want to be able to fully benefit from AI. Many large European companies in critical sectors (e.g. Mercedes-Benz, see page 13) have successfully adopted and adapted Google AI and used Google infrastructure to innovate their own business or increase productivity. However, 99% of European businesses are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), providing jobs to over 85 million people. Though AI use among SMEs increased from 7% in 2023 to 13% in 2024, they are still far behind large enterprises – 41% of which use AI. This disparity indicates that SMEs have different awareness, abilities and needs when adopting AI services. They depend more on readyto-use technologies and open-source software. Google provides many of these technologies, empowering SMEs to use AI (see page 19-21).

In addition, the public sector offers significant untapped opportunities for AI adoption. The smart use of AI may raise efficiency and general productivity in administration and public services (see page 25). And, more importantly, European citizens would benefit from these AI-driven improvements.

»Europe doesn’t need more regulations. Now we need to touch base on the AI Act. The focus should be on enabling rather than regulating.«

Aura Salla, MEP, Finland

»Generative AI could streamline approximately two-thirds of jobs in our economy by eliminating the 10-15% of time spent on tedious mundane administrative tasks. This would free up time for more meaningful work, effectively redesigning job content.«

Martin Hvidt Thelle, Partner, Implement Consulting Group

SAFETY, SECURITY & RESILIENCE

»If we want to keep up with the adversaries, we also have to somehow ease the regulatory burden for security innovators and cybersecurity companies.«

Anett Mádi-Nátor, CEO, CyEx.hu and President, Women4Cyber Foundation

»It’s the combination of the AI’s analytical power with the human critical thinking and judgment that is a recipe for successful cyberdefense.«

Nina Olesen, Chief Growth Officer at the European Cyber Security Organisation

Security is one of the core areas for action described in the EU Compass. As the digital age is accelerating the speed of cyberthreats and cyberattacks, entire economic sectors and essential services depend on the resilience of Europe's digital, transport and space infrastructure, energy grids and technological hardware. One recent example of this threat is a 2024 incident in Romania, when over 100 healthcare facilities were hit by a ransomware attack, with some hospitals having to take their systems offline.

The Compass points out that »increasing hybrid threats require a closer alignment between the public and private sector.« Google is convinced that AI can and should be used to enhance cybersecurity and improve cyberdefence. It is providing many products that help advance cyberresilience (see page 29). Partnerships with research institutions and universities across Europe are important, too. Besides fostering cybersecurity innovation, these partnerships help to attract new talents. They are urgently needed as Europe is facing a lack of cybersecurity experts. That’s why Google supports the efforts of the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC) to increase Europe’s cybersecurity capacities and competitiveness.

With regard to economic security, AI can play a major role in strengthening Europe’s competitiveness – as the latest figures presented by Implement Consulting show. Digital sovereignty, too, can be an important means to reduce dependencies and protect critical industries. Together with local partners, Google provides a number of sovereign solutions to provide trust, assurance and choice. At the same time, digital sovereignty shouldn’t be understood as economic isolation – as this would run counter to advancing Europe’s economic competitiveness. According to Implement Consulting, a »made in Europe only« policy for AI might drastically reduce Europe’s AI potential.

»AI can help with much of the repetitive grunt work: auto-ranking alerts, mapping assets to the right patches, even drafting compliance reports.«

Max

Smeets, Senior Researcher at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich

THE FOUNDATION OF INNOVATION

Why infrastructure is vital for competitiveness, what impact AI may have on Europe’s economy and how Google contributes to infrastructure, sustainability and digital sovereignty: A conversation with Marianne Janik, Vice President, EMEA North – Google Cloud.

Why is infrastructure important when it comes to AI?

AI’s potential to transform Europe’s economy and boost competitiveness is enormous, but it’s dependent on a robust foundation. Infrastructure is that foundation.

What does it consist of?

As AI and other technologies expand to unlock new economic and social benefits, the demand for digital services has grown rapidly. At Google, we take a full-stack approach to AI innovation, meaning we build and optimise every layer of the AI development process – from the physical infrastructure in our data centres and the design of our chips to the development of AI models and the products that use them.

Energy consumption is considered a concern regarding AI. How does Google contribute to sustainable infrastructures?

Running the global infrastructure behind our products and services, including AI, takes considerable energy. From the beginning, we’ve focused intensely on how we manage our energy use – and how we can accelerate the shift to cleaner sources. Our strategy focuses on what we can directly control, like improving energy efficiency and procuring clean energy for our data centres. In parallel, we invest in the breakthroughs needed for the future – including next-generation energy sources like enhanced geothermal and advanced nuclear, as well as grid-enhancing technologies. Our data centres deliver over six times more computing power per unit of electricity than they did just five years ago. Much of this improvement has come from deploying AI accelerators, such as our TPUs, the highly efficient computer chips we designed specifically for AI and machine-learning applications. An

Interested in AI Infrastructure but find the technical elements confusing? Ask Gemini to explain terms like ›TPUs‹, ›GPUs‹ or ›edge computing‹ in beginner-friendly language, with pictures.

example of our focus on sustainability is our Swedish Cloud region, which opened in 2025. Current projections indicate this region will operate at or above 99% carbon-free energy (CFE) in its first full year of operation in 2026, due to the Swedish grid’s electricity mix.

How does Europe’s AI infrastructure currently compare to that of the U.S. and other global regions?

Infrastructure quality and availability vary significantly across Europe, often correlating with national digital strategies and historical investment levels. While Europe has made significant strides in AI research, substantial, ongoing investment in foundational AI infrastructure is crucial to keep pace with global leaders like the U.S. and China. Google has invested significantly in infrastructure in Europe in recent years, and we will continue to help close the gap.

What exactly do these investments look like?

Google’s investments in Europe are substantial and growing, underpinning the continent’s digital transformation and AI ambition. We currently operate 7 data centres in Europe, located in Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, and Belgium, and have development plans for sites in the UK and Norway. Google has invested in international subsea cables connecting Europe to the US, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, partnering with European carriers. This is vital for Europe’s global digital connectivity.

»Google plays a crucial role regarding the infrastructure Europe needs for truly democratised AI.«

How would you describe Google’s role when it comes to AI infrastructure in Europe?

Google plays a crucial role regarding the infrastructure Europe needs for truly democratised AI. Through Google Cloud, European businesses, from startups to corporations, gain access to specialised hardware without the prohibitive cost of building their own. But AI infrastructure is just one part of what we call a full stack. This full stack has four layers: the AI infrastructure, so basically the hardware; the research that is done with it; the tooling; and the products and the agents. We are the only company that provides the full stack of AI.

How do Google’s investments and offerings contribute to enhancing European competitiveness?

Our cloud investments offer a scalable digital foundation, democratising access to advancements and enabling rapid innovation. The cloud is vital for AI workflows, allowing businesses to fine-tune AI models on their data while leveraging significant foundational model investments. This accelerates European innovation and global competitiveness. I’m confident that new industries and careers will be made possible by AI-powered breakthroughs. Studies show that widespread adoption of generative AI could boost the EU’s GDP by 8% over 10 years. This is a tremendous opportunity for Europe.

What role do partnerships play with regard to AI impact?

Partnerships are fundamental, especially in R&D, as impact begins with research. Google actively collaborates with leading European research institutions and universities, fostering European research and startup communities. A prime example is the 2024 announcement of a new AI research hub in Paris, set to host at least 300 researchers and bring together AI students, researchers, NGOs and startups. In the medical sphere, too, Google has many groundbreaking collaborations, such as our work with the European Bioinformatics Institute EMBL-EBI using AlphaFold to help researchers understand diseases and develop new medicines. Just in 2025, we started a partnership with Institut Curie and Université PSL applying AI to women’s cancer research.

Given your focus on collaboration, what are your thoughts on Europe’s pursuit of greater digital sovereignty?

I believe Europe has a clear path forward, as it did with data privacy. So, of course, we respect this path forward, but we are also very much engaged in the dialogue on how the tech ecosystem can

evolve in Europe. The Draghi report says very clearly that sovereignty should not be done in economic isolation. It needs partnerships and collaboration. EU enterprises are not simply consumers of U.S. technology. They are innovators in their own right, leveraging our AI and cloud infrastructure to create new solutions. And in an era of escalating cyber threats, it is more critical than ever for EU companies and institutions to be able to access best-in-class cybersecurity tools to protect themselves.

How does Google combine sovereignty and access to the best technology?

We see digital sovereignty not as a barrier, but as an opportunity for innovation and trust-building within the European market. It drives us to develop solutions that meet the highest standards of security, transparency and local control. Our approach is based on choice, partnership and security. We have forged key local partnerships in Europe to help deliver our sovereign solutions, including Minsait (Spain), Telecom Italia (Italy), Clarence (Belgium and Luxembourg), Schwarz Group and T-Systems (Germany) and S3NS (France).

How does Google ensure that sovereign solutions address European needs?

Sovereignty is not a one-size-fits-all solution, so Google Cloud offers a portfolio of Sovereign Cloud solutions that provide trust, assurance and a choice to meet different sovereignty needs. Google Cloud Data Boundary gives customers the ability to control where their data is stored and processed and who has access to this data. Google Workspace uses these capabilities to offer controls to users. Google Dedicated Cloud is designed to meet local sovereignty requirements, enabled by independent local and regional partners. S3NS, a stand-alone French entity, currently offers this to European customers. Thirdly, Google Cloud Air-Gapped offers a fully standalone solution that does not require connectivity to an external network. This solution is tailored for customers in the intelligence, defence and other sectors with strict data security and residency requirements, such as the German army.

You’ve talked a lot about investments and partnerships. Why is Google actually committed to driving European innovation?

We see ourselves as a global company. We’re building on 25 years of investment and partnership in Europe, which is both an important market and a very important talent hub for us.

Powered by AI

AI is redefining innovation across industries — from premium driving experiences to protein science.

01. Mercedes-Benz

»Hey Mercedes, we’re looking for a romantic restaurant for our anniversary tonight.« A sentence like this could form the basis for a successful outing in the new Mercedes-Benz CLA. Passengers can talk to a virtual assistant as if they were a well-informed restaurant expert and respond to answers with questions: »Does the restaurant have good reviews?« This is made possible by an AI feature based on Google’s Automotive AI Agent platform. »Our partnership with Google helps us to remain an innovation leader and offer our customers exceptional digital experiences,« says Ola Källenius, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Group AG.

While AI creates a new driving experience in the car, its impact extends across other areas of the Group, driving gains in efficiency and productivity. Over 5,000 software developers, for instance, save 30 minutes of working time every day thanks to AI support in programming. AI also assists the sales department in optimizing pricing for used cars, and in production halls, the company is piloting AI solutions to reduce employee workload. »AI is a key lever for overcoming the many challenges facing the automotive industry — from the digital transformation to the shortage of skilled workers and increased global competition,« says Källenius.

Passengers in the CLA are already benefiting from the advances in AI. The virtual assistant draws on information from 250 million places and points of interest in the Google Places platform. And thanks to the memory function, the assistant knows what the conversation is about when it is continued later in the car: »Tell me, what is the chef’s specialty in this restaurant for tonight?«

02.

Cradle

Cradle’s AI platform revolutionises protein engineering across industries like pharma and food. Proteins, »nature’s machines,« offer efficient, sustainable solutions. CEO Stef van Grieken emphasises AI’s role in accelerating design, creating safer, more effective proteins faster and cheaper. Security is paramount. Cradle chose Google Cloud for its robust, engineering-driven security, protecting confidential R&D data. Google’s defence-in-depth strategy, including BeyondCorp and unphishable MFA, ensures data integrity, allowing Cradle to focus on AI innovation. With clients like Johnson & Johnson, Cradle is democratising protein design, enabling organisations to tackle global challenges like climate change and disease more cost-effectively, ushering in a new era of AI-supported biological research.

Early Innovations to Future Frontiers

Contrary to many people’s perception, artificial intelligence (AI) is not new, and it’s not just chatbots. At Google, we’ve been working on AI for over two decades, starting with Spell Check in 2001. Since then, significant advances have proven that AI has the potential to help us make daily life easier, reach big goals and address some of humankind’s most complex and pressing social and economic challenges.

Google’s AI milestones include various technological, scientific and ethical achievements – and even a Nobel Prize. These milestones of the past form the basis for AI-driven tools that now help people and businesses around the world every day. And, of course, the journey continues. Google will keep pursuing the extraordinary and the everyday opportunities of AI, boldly and responsibly, to improve the lives of as many people as possible.

ML for Spell Check

Good results despite typos in the search window: Google begins using machine learning (ML) with spell check at scale in Google Search.

Google Translate

Launch of Google Translate using ML to automatically translate languages, starting with Arabic-English and English-Arabic. As of 2025, more than 240 languages and varieties are supported.

Google Photos

Launch of a new app that uses AI with search capability to search for and access your photos by the people, places and even things or animals that matter.

Transformer

Google introduces the Transformer architecture, a novel neural network architecture that all large language models are based on today.

Imagen & Phenaki

Imagen and Phenaki go live, two models that use different techniques to generate photorealistic images and videos from a text description. Both are possible today in Gemini.

PaLM

Google announces PaLM –or the Pathways Language Model. It was Google’s largest language model to date, trained on 540 billion parameters and the predecessor of Gemini.

AlphaFold 2

AlphaFold is recognised as a solution to the 50-year »protein-folding problem«. Accelerating research, more than two million researchers have used it. Received a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2024.

AI Principles

Google was one of the first companies to publish AI Principles. We follow these guidelines while developing and using AI. They are designed to maximise AI’s potential while safeguarding against risks.

The Gemini Era

Today, people around the world are creating, building and learning with the most capable and general model we’ve ever built. Gemini is Google’s most advanced AI and the largest science and engineering project we’ve ever undertaken. To keep things simple, we’ve named both the AI model itself and the product you interact with »Gemini«.

Gemini allows people to collaborate directly with generative AI to supercharge their productivity and creativity. Users have turned to Gemini to enhance research and analysis, streamline the way they work, prepare important meetings, but also get more out of their hobbies. On this and the next page, you’ll find many examples of how you can use Gemini in your everyday life.

Ask complex questions

Want to get an impartial idea of the current challenges of the EU domestic market or understand how energy supply is organised in Europe? Gemini is grounded in Google Search so you can ask it about anything. And, if you’re unsure, the ›Double-check‹ feature allows users to explore supporting and conflicting information and further combat hallucinations.

Create images and videos in seconds

In just a few words, generate images to illustrate complex ideas, create unique visuals for social media or explainer videos for when you want to get a point across. Once generated, you can instantly download or share with others.

Your personalised AI research assistant – NotebookLM

Named one of TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2024, think of NotebookLM as a virtual research assistant that is entirely based on the notes and sources you select. This effectively creates a personalised AI that’s versed in the information relevant to you. For example, you could upload different legislative proposals and ask for it to analyse the differences, identify insights or spot common trends. You might also upload your source material on a topic relevant for a specific meeting. NotebookLM can then create a polished presentation outline, complete with key talking points and supporting evidence – and even generate a podcast-style audio discussion on the topic. Because NotebookLM is grounded in information you trust, it minimises the risk of AI hallucination. Furthermore, NotebookLM does not train its model on user-uploaded sources, queries or responses, so your personal data stays private to you.

THE PRESENT

Talk it out with Gemini Live

Brainstorm ideas out loud or practise interview questions with this conversational feature. For instance, Gemini Live can serve as a stand-in practice journalist –having come up with a list of relevant, hard-hitting questions that you might face.

Condense hours of searching with Deep Research

Sift through hundreds of websites, analyse the information and create a comprehensive report in minutes. For public sector professionals, this tool can automate the time-consuming aspects of research. For example, when developing policy proposals or preparing responses to public inquiries, you and your team could use Deep Research to quickly compile relevant data and insights. This gives you more time for analysis and decision-making, rather than the manual collection of information. Lastly, you can transform your Deep Research reports into engaging, podcast-style audio and quizzes to test your understanding or infographics.

Get help with tasks in multiple apps at once

Gemini can connect to other Google apps like Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Maps and YouTube to help you find or do what you need without switching between apps. Like getting summaries from your Gmail or organising your Calendar.

Write in less time

Go from a blank page to a finished product faster. You can use Gemini to generate first draft reports, white papers, emails, translate or summarise text and even to get feedback on things you’ve already written.

Build custom experts

Gems let you save highly detailed prompt instructions and upload files for your most repeatable tasks so you can save time and focus on deeper, more creative collaboration. Gems can range from an interview coach or brainstorm partner to a coding helper.

Dive into large files

With a long context window of 1 million tokens (tokens are a unit of text or code that LLMs process), Gemini in Google AI Pro can understand and analyse whole books, lengthy reports and more with uploads of up to 1,500 pages or 30,000 lines of code, all at once.

Lila Ibrahim on the Future of AI

From personalised education to helping solve global challenges – Lila Ibrahim, COO of Google DeepMind, explains how AI can help improve our future.

What »magical,« unimagined ways do you see people using future generative AI products in their daily lives, work and creative pursuits?

What inspires me most is how AI can help personalise education. I’ve witnessed firsthand with my teenage daughters the positive impact of AI tools that explain challenging concepts using text, audio, video and graphics. Now imagine every teacher having an AI assistant and every student working with a personalised tutor that helps them to learn about a subject or master a new skill by adapting to their pace and style. I’m particularly passionate about our role in responsibly building that future.

What is Google’s core philosophy for designing AI products that empower users and enhance their experiences?

We believe AI systems should be capable and reliable tools designed to partner with people to solve real-world problems. A powerful example is WeatherNext, our family of AI models that produce stateof-the-art weather forecasts that can help meteorologists warn people of major storms up to 15 days in advance and explore impact paths. This offers communities critical time to prepare. WeatherNext embodies our approach to building AI that could empower people to make better, faster decisions.

What’s the next transformative frontier for generative AI that will directly impact how users create and achieve, and what product advancements excite you most?

We’re entering the »agentic era« where advanced AI systems move beyond being creative tools to become collaborative partners that can take action on behalf of – and with – people. These tools will soon handle complex but mundane tasks, like planning travel or grocery shopping, giving us back our most valuable resource: time to pursue more creative endeavours or to spend with our friends and families. This is why our work on Project Astra is so exciting — it represents our vision for a universal AI agent that empowers people in their daily lives.

What role do open-source initiatives and collaboration with academia play in the further development of AI at Google?

One thing I’m proud of is how our team builds meaningful relationships beyond traditional stakeholder management. AlphaFold is one of our best examples of opensource technology making science more accessible: more than 2.5 million people across 190 countries use AlphaFold in their research work. As part of ensuring equitable access to AI in science, we hosted international researchers with EMBL-EBI, a leading research organisation that provides freely available public biological data resources and bioinformatics services to empower scientists to advance their research and address local, regional and global scientific challenges.

What role do international collaboration and regulation play in shaping the future of AI?

AI is an inherently borderless technology that no one company, organisation or country can manage alone. That’s why we are very engaged in international dialogues to establish shared principles rooted in democratic values and a deep commitment to safety. Ultimately, our goal is to create a framework that builds public trust and ensures this powerful technology is developed and deployed responsibly for the benefit of everyone. That requires a global effort from the start.

If you were to send a message to the world about the promise of AI and Google’s role in realising it, what would be the single most important thing you’d want people to feel excited and optimistic about for the coming decade?

I’m most excited about how AI can accelerate scientific discovery. It is the modern-day telescope or microscope – a powerful new tool that gives us a fundamentally different view of the world. We saw this with AlphaFold, which is helping scientists to co-create solutions for everything from vaccine development to plastic pollution. Our mission is to continue building these tools and placing them in the hands of the world’s brightest minds to unlock our understanding of the universe and solve humanity’s biggest challenges, responsibly.

AI Helps Save Hearts

Cardiovascular disease kills 17 million people each year. Idoven’s founders, Dr. Manuel Marina Breysse and José María Lillo Castellano, together with their team, created Willem, an AI that reads electrocardiograms (ECGs) with expert-level accuracy. Their goal: to provide faster diagnoses for doctors, enhance patient care and foster a future in which AI transforms cardiology.

How did you get the idea to use AI to fight heart disease?

Manuel: I’m a cardiologist. Every day at the hospital I saw patients suffering from cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death worldwide. One in three people will die from this disease unless we improve our healthcare systems. It’s also the biggest cost driver in healthcare. Diagnosing it starts with reading ECGs, a repetitive and time-consuming task. José and I were convinced there was a better way: to build an AI that can read ECGs.

When was that and what happened in the preparation phase before the foundation of your startup Idoven?

José: We founded Idoven in 2018, building on our collaborative research and PhD work in machine learning applied to cardiology which began in 2014. Willem is our AI platform, capable of detecting arrhythmias and diseases in ECGs.

Can you describe your idea in more detail?

Manuel: At Idoven, we are creating Willem, an AI cardiologist expert in diagnosing ECGs of any duration. It is already possible to use Willem as a copilot agent, accessible through APIs, to build a wide variety of cardiovascular solutions.

Why is this important?

José: Today, healthcare professionals around the world spend millions of hours analysing ECGs daily. A piece of software can do that in

milliseconds. So, the goal is not only to improve diagnostic accuracy, but also to free up doctors so that they can focus on patient care.

What does that mean for patients?

Manuel: Access to healthcare professionals and time are two of the biggest barriers. It can take months for a patient to get a referral to a cardiologist. AI can reduce those waiting times and help diagnose patients faster. That changes how the disease is managed. Earlier diagnosis normally leads to better outcomes at lower cost. Patients suffer less, and mortality rates can be reduced.

Who uses Idoven technology?

Scan the QR code and use NotebookLM to dive deeper into the reports referenced in this article. Plus, leverage its audio overview feature to listen to the content as a convenient podcast while on the go.

Manuel: Our clients are pharma, medtech companies, healthcare systems and global organisations. Our AI platform enables researchers, developers, healthcare leaders and organisations to achieve breakthroughs and solve various problems where an ECG is involved. The end user is a doctor, and both patients and doctors benefit from our AI. Over 566,900 patients and doctors have trusted us and collaborated with our team of engineers, scientists and healthcare professionals to train Willem with their ECGs. They did so through the #DonateYourHeartbeats to save lives movement. Created by Idoven and supported in 2019 by Andrus Ansip, then Vice President of the European Commission, the initiative has received strong support

»Today, healthcare professionals around the world spend millions of hours analysing ECGs daily. A piece of software can do that in milliseconds.«

from citizens, patients and over 150 leading research hospitals and organisations in 33 countries.

You started partnering with Google in 2019. Why did you do that?

José: Starting a company comes with uncertainty, and you often feel alone. Seven years ago, Manuel knocked on Google’s door as we were looking for a workspace. That’s where it all started. We applied to the Residency programme and became alumni of Google for Startups. It was one of the best decisions we made. At the time, we were just three people. Now we’re a team of 58.

What does the partnership entail?

José: The Google for Startups programme allowed us to connect with founders and startups. This was one of the most valuable aspects. In 2019, we received a grant that was reserved at that time for US universities: €100,000 in Google Cloud credits, which gave us access to powerful computing and tools to validate key research ideas. It was a real turning point. We also had the chance to work with and learn from Google experts from Silicon Valley who came to Madrid, some of whom are still friends and advisers.

How important are partnerships for you in general, e.g. with pharmaceutical companies?

Manuel: Our mission is to serve humanity by creating an advanced AI platform for ECGs that helps organisations transform diagnostic pathways. Partnerships are essential: we collaborate with global pharma teams, medtech and tech leaders, leading physicians and some of the most innovative hospitals and research centres. Our AI platform empowers them to prevent life-threatening conditions and bring smarter diagnostic tools for faster diagnoses and better treatment decisions.

According to a Google for Startups Report, AI adoption among European startups remains low. How important are companies like yours for Europe’s competitiveness in AI and the economy?

Manuel: I have worked in hospitals, research centres and public organisations. Now, working in a startup, I see them as crucial structures for rapid, product-oriented innovation. The beauty of great products is that they can solve a huge problem at scale, benefiting both patients and society. I see deeptech AI startups like ours as key organisations that society should support, learn how to collaborate with and protect. The ones that succeed are rare, but those that do are vital to shaping the future of Europe and the world, as has happened many times.

What do you think about AI’s potential in medicine in general? Will it help humankind to defeat all manner of serious diseases in the not-so-distant future?

Manuel: AI is changing the world very quickly. It’s reducing the burden of repetitive tasks, the kind of routine work done every day in hospitals, in our case with near-cardiologist accuracy. That allows doctors and healthcare experts to rethink how medicine will work in the years to come. For decades, innovation in medicine came through hardware or new treatments. Today, it lies in AI, in our ability to build software tools that let us measure what we couldn’t before. And when we can measure, we can understand, improve and create knowledge. By being accessible and useful, this knowledge moves medicine forward for generations to come.

What’s your vision for what Idoven will achieve in the next ten years?

Manuel: Our vision is to build a foundational AI model for signal processing. We’re creating something both special and challenging, because the problem we’re tackling is urgent. There’s only one cardiologist for every 32,000 people in the world, and even after more than a decade of medical education, much of their work involves repetitive tasks that could be easily handled by AI. We want to change that by giving doctors tools that let them focus on complex care. To achieve this, we’re partnering with leading healthcare and research institutions who share our belief in the potential of this technology to help patients everywhere.

ADS WITH IMPACT

Personalised digital advertising is a €100 billion engine for EU competitiveness, according to a study conducted by the Implement Consulting Group. Startups Holafly and Raus demonstrate how personalised digital ads can help to grow smart and scale fast.

Holafly

Staying online while travelling has always been a challenge. From high roaming charges to unreliable Wi-Fi or the hassle of changing SIM cards, travellers have long struggled to stay connected abroad. This was precisely the challenge that the Spanish company Holafly set out to solve.

It all started in 2017, during a trip to Thailand, when Holafly’s founders Lidia and Pedro struggled to call home. That experience sparked the idea to create a digital-first eSIM that helps travellers stay connected anywhere in the world. Once the product was ready, the challenge was to reach the right audience. Holafly’s first success came from Google Search Ads, targeting Spain and capturing demand with optimal return on spend. But growth ambitions didn’t stop there. Holafly partnered with Google to scale internationally, optimise media strategies and reach travellers at key decision-making moments.

Together, they embraced agile testing to ensure every euro worked hard, supported by Google tools that enabled personalised messaging. This was especially impactful during airport campaigns – where relevance meets urgency. Since early 2023, the collaboration has driven measurable growth, helping Holafly sell over 10 million eSIMs and become the global leader by search share. The partnership continues to evolve, using marketing mix modelling and incrementality testing to unlock new insights and efficiencies. With travel booming and digital connectivity more vital than ever, Holafly and Google are committed to taking each product launch – and each traveller –further.

Raus

In today’s always-on world, the idea of doing nothing has become aspirational. That’s the space that Raus is carving out. The Berlin-based hospitality startup offers minimal, design-forward cabins in tranquil locations across Germany – inviting guests to unplug without giving up comfort. But behind its calm, paredback product is a focused digital strategy that’s helping Raus to grow quickly and efficiently. In order to scale its visibility and attract bookings, Raus turned to Google Ads. By running a mix of branded and generic campaigns across Germany and Austria, the team reached key audiences right when they were searching for a break. With strategic targeting and creative testing, they turned clicks into conversions.

For Raus, this approach isn’t just effective, it’s adaptable. »Google Ads is important to us because it’s a highly scalable channel that can grow alongside our company,« says Julian Trautwein, co-founder and CEO. »When someone’s in an impulsive mood, just wanting to get out of the city and book a trip on the spot, Google Search Ads help us tap into that emotional impulse,« he adds. The results speak for themselves: for every €1 spent on Google Ads, Raus generated €40 in revenue. Raus also adopted Performance Max, Google’s AI-powered campaign type that automates ad delivery across channels like Search, YouTube and Display. This gave the team access to real-time performance insights and the ability to optimise without constant manual input. By letting AI adjust formats, bids and placements dynamically, Raus was able to maximise its marketing impact while staying focused on product and brand.

From Crisis to Digital Power

Ukraine’s digital transformation began long before the war. Valeriya Ionan, Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister and Former Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine (2019–2025), explains how a bold vision, global partnerships and AI innovation are turning crisis into opportunity – and setting a new standard for digital resilience and citizen empowerment.

Let’s talk about Ukraine’s digital journey. What was the original vision for your transformation, even before the full-scale invasion? From the start, Ukraine’s digital transformation has been a national mission — to rebuild state capacity, restore trust and serve citizens with dignity through technology. It’s not about apps — it’s about system change. Our vision is bold and simple: to build the most convenient digital state in the world. Led by Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, the Ministry of Digital Transformation was launched in 2019 to create a »state in a smartphone« — a new model of government that is transparent, efficient and user-centric. At the core is the Diia ecosystem — a digital infrastructure of public services and tools. Since 2020, Ukraine has institutionalised digital reform through the new position of Chief Digital Transformation Officers (CDTOs) across ministries and regions. This network, combined with a dedicated parliamentary committee and strong coordination from Vice Prime Minister Fedorov, enables fast, systemic progress. Today, Ukraine is advancing towards an agentic state — where government services are proactive, personalised and AI-powered. Our Digital Agenda 2030 and National AI Strategy, currently under development, will guide this transformation.

How did Ukraine maintain digital resilience during the full-scale invasion and what were the key foundational elements you were building? Ukraine’s digital resilience was built on strategy, speed and trust. Long before the invasion, we laid the groundwork: digital-first governance, citizen-centric services and agile tech teams embedded across institutions. When the full-scale war began, we pivoted rapidly. Within days and weeks, we launched among other things, eDocument, a digital ID for those fleeing without documents and eRecovery for reporting and compensating damaged housing. We activated Diia.TV and Diia.Radio to provide verified news when traditional infrastructure was under attack. The Air Alert app — built in partnership with the private sector — warns citizens about the aggressor state’s attacks in real time. Strategic technology partnerships — including the strategic one with Google — ensured uninterrupted governance, cybersecurity and digital education during the war. These alliances demonstrated how global cooperation can reinforce resilience in times of crisis.

How is Ukraine using AI as a national strategic asset, and what’s the role of the WINWIN 2030 Strategy? Ukraine treats artificial intelligence not as an add-on, but as a national strategic foundation — essential for innovation, economic resilience and technological sovereignty. In 2024, we launched the Ukrainian

»Our ambition is to become one of the top three countries globally in AI development and implementation by 2030.«

Redefining industries with AI

Ukrainian startups Deus Robotics and Fuel Finance use AI to transform warehousing and finance respectively, helping companies scale faster and work smarter.

DEUS ROBOTICS

FUEL FINANCE

Ukrainian startup Deus Robotics is transforming warehouse operations with an AI-first platform that orchestrates robots from any manufacturer. Their system enables seamless robot interoperability and has already delivered up to 300% efficiency gains for major logistics firms like Nova Poshta in Ukraine. Now expanding into the UK with DPD, Deus is scaling fast – with $3M in seed funding, a $20M valuation and 36% team growth. Originally a robotics company, Deus Robotics has shifted decisively to software, building the AI layer that turns fragmented warehouse fleets into a single, intelligent system. Fast, scalable and ready for global deployment.

Global Innovation Strategy by 2030 – WINWIN, a comprehensive innovation roadmap with AI at its core. We’re developing real-world solutions, from legal document review and HR assistants to AI-powered public services. We’re also building our national LLM, trained on Ukrainian-language data, to ensure digital sovereignty. Our ambition is to become one of the top three countries globally in AI development and implementation by 2030.

What support do SMEs in Ukraine receive for digital adoption and AI integration?

Ukraine is a nation of entrepreneurs. Our mission is to build the most accessible and enabling environment for them to thrive — even in wartime. Launched in 2020, Diia.Business combines online tools and physical support centres, offering entrepreneurs everything from business consultations and grant opportunities to expert advice and educational content. In 2024, we relaunched the platform with enhanced features like personalised business roadmaps, a national events calendar and targeted support services. A key milestone is Robert, currently a chatbot, but which will soon be transformed into an AI-powered business assistant. Soon, Robert will be able to help entrepreneurs to draft business plans, apply for funding, book expert consultations and navigate regulations — all in one place. But tools alone are not enough. That’s why we are developing Ukraine’s Guidelines for SME Digital Maturity — a roadmap to help small and medium enterprises adopt digital technologies, integrate AI, automate processes and strengthen their position in global supply chains. Digital maturity means more than just having a website or social media presence. It means using technology to improve decision-making, cut costs, reach new customers and adapt to change. We believe that SMEs that embrace digital transformation today will become the economic backbone of Ukraine’s recovery and reinvention tomorrow.

How are you developing Ukraine’s tech talent and innovation ecosystem?

Fuel Finance empowers growing startups and SMBs with an enterprise-level FP&A (financial planning and analysis) solution — combining AI-powered tools with expert financial support. The platform delivers real-time KPI dashboards, advanced forecasting, unit economics and AI-driven financial analysis. Seamlessly integrated with QuickBooks, Stripe, Gusto, HubSpot, Wise and more than 300 tools, Fuel turns fragmented data into strategic clarity. Trusted by more than 600 companies managing over $450M in P&L, Fuel helps teams to eliminate spreadsheet chaos and make faster, smarter business decisions. Backed by Google for Startups Ukraine in 2022, Fuel raised $1M in 2023 from investors including Markus Villig (Bolt) and John S. Kim (Sendbird). Led by Forbes 30-under-30 cofounder and CEO Alyona Mysko, Fuel combines technology with a human touch — so that SMEs can forecast confidently and scale smarter.

From IT studios in schools and the Mriia digital learning platform to Diia.Education and our Faculties of GovTech and AI for civil servants at the CDTO Campus, we are transforming how Ukrainians learn — at every age, in every region, across every profession. Through our WINWIN Innovation Strategy, we will prepare the workforce for the economy of the future — cultivating high-demand tech professions. Our Diia.City legal framework continues to attract global companies and top talent.

What role do international partnerships — like the one with Google — play in Ukraine’s digital development?

International partnerships are the backbone of Ukraine’s digital resilience — and Google is a prime example. From the earliest days of the full-scale war, Google stood with Ukraine: delivering cybersecurity tools like Project Shield, providing laptops for students and teachers, launching free digital skills programmes and supporting key national initiatives such as Diia.Education through targeted grants. Their Google for Startups Ukraine Support Fund helped tech companies grow amid the crisis, while free Workspace licenses ensured continuity and security across government operations.

What lessons can other European countries learn from Ukraine’s experience?

Ukraine has shown that a digital state is not just about tools — it’s about a new institutional architecture. Institutions and processes must evolve alongside technology. Everything starts with a bold vision — without knowing where you want to go, you can’t build meaningful change. We must design infrastructures that are ready for all potential crises — because crises won’t wait until we’re prepared.

DRIVING PUBLIC GOOD WITH AI

AI can help modernise public services and make institutions more efficient. Innovating with AI will help governments and citizens alike.

The United Kingdom needs to build new homes, but traditional planning applications are complicated and time-consuming, with complex paper documents requiring processing and verification against local planning restrictions. Extract, a new system built by the UK Government’s AI Incubator team, helps local government councils to convert planning documents into digital structured data, drastically reducing the time required for dealing with the roughly 350,000 planning applications filed in England every year. »The new generative AI tool will turn old planning documents – including blurry maps and handwritten notes – into clear, digital data in just 40 seconds«, explains the UK government. The new system, which is based on Google’s Gemini, is currently being tested by four councils and will be available to all councils by Spring 2026.

The stereotype goes that the public sector is slow to act when it comes to innovation, especially in terms of technology. But according to Public Sector Tech Watch, a monitor of emerging technology adoption in the European public sector, over 1,400 AI projects were underway in 38 European countries as of May 2025. Almost a third of these (29%) can be described as »general public services« – a category that includes chatbots and tools for internal office management.

Leverage Deep Research (found in Gemini’s prompt bar) to analyse successful AI initiatives in the European public sector. Then, discuss with Gemini how these successes could be implemented to address your institution’s specific challenges.

The categories »economic affairs« and »public safety« rank second and third, with 18% and 16% of all use cases. Almost 600 of those projects have already been implemented and more than 600 were in the pilot stage. The countries with the most cases were Germany, the Netherlands and Italy.

»There’s a clear trend of increasing AI adoption and pilot projects in all European countries,« says Gerhard Hammerschmid, Professor of Public and Financial Management at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. Hammerschmid co-authored two reports on AI for the German parliament in 2019. When asked about the potential of AI to improve public services in Europe, he says he is »quietly optimistic« that the technology will bring considerable positive change. Indeed, a report published by Implement Consulting Group concludes that adopting generative AI in public administration could significantly enhance overall productivity, since the public sector accounts for 20–25% of generative AI potential in the EU. Public administrations in EU member states can enhance their productivity by 10% with generative AI and thereby unlock a EUR 100 billion opportunity. Low-risk use cases make up 15-20% of the potential.

Potential for improvement

Hammerschmid sees three areas of potential for AI in the public sector. The first relates to relationships between citizens and government, such as application forms and chatbots: »Many public services can be individualised or offered proactively«, he says. The second is office management and organisation. For Hammerschmid, this is where the greatest efficiency gains are likely to be achieved »because that’s what public sector work is mostly about«. The third area is providing support for decision-making processes such as approvals, monitoring and control. »There’s a lot of potential for improvement in this area, but it’s also the most difficult one,« he says.

»There’s a clear trend of increasing AI adoption and pilot projects in all European countries.«

GERHARD HAMMERSCHMID,

PROFESSOR AT THE HERTIE SCHOOL OF GOVERNANCE IN BERLIN

Google has collaborated on projects in each of Hammerschmid’s categories. For example, the Département du Var in southern France collaborates with Google Cloud on a number of AI use cases like a website chatbot and a survey chatbot as well as automated transcription of council meetings. The Italian provincial capital Padua created a Google-powered AI voicebot to answer residents’ queries about local air pollution levels. By implementing the voicebot, the team saves 20 hours per week, with 96% of customer queries being resolved successfully. Westminster City Council in London, in partnership with Google Cloud and service provider Ancoris, has built a platform for citizens to report dumped waste and request street cleaning. The system showed 86% accuracy in automatically categorising issues.

However, harnessing the full potential of AI for public good requires a thoughtful regulatory framework. The EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act that came into force on 1 August 2024 is a key part of that regulatory environment in Europe. With the law now in the implementation phase, it will be critical to ensure that it strikes the right balance between increasing trust and ensuring innovation, including enabling rather than stifling adoption of AI by the public sector.

»I think it’s a fair worry,« says Richard Stirling, who in 2016 founded Oxford Insights, a British consultancy focused on AI adoption in the public sector. Yet Stirling points out that fears of Europe falling behind were already expressed when, in 2018, the General Data Protection Act and, in 2022, the Digital Services Act were implemented. »In both cases, what happened was the rest of the world started to follow the European Union’s lead.« That said, Stirling can also imagine that the EU AI Act could cause the EU being »treated like a second-class citizen« when it comes to rolling out AI services: »You can actually see this happening already,« he warns.

Well positioned for AI adoption

Oxford Insights annually publishes the »Government AI readiness index«, which analyses the ability of governments to harness AI. According to the latest report, European governments are well positioned for AI adoption. Western Europe ranks globally as number 2 in

readiness, with an average score of 69.5, and Eastern Europe as number 4, with an average score of 57.88. This compares to an average score of 82.6 for the leading region, North America. In the national ranking, the US leads with a score of 87.03, but Western European countries dominate the top ten: France, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and Finland.

This might seem surprising given the public perception that European countries trail the US, China and others when it comes to artificial intelligence. Stirling, who is also a »UNESCO AI Expert Without Borders«, refers to the analytical framework of his report to explain the seeming contradiction. While Western European countries tend to score well on aspects such as governmental strategic vision, regulation, IT infrastructure and flexibility to adapt, the European private sector is clearly at a disadvantage compared with that in the US.

»There’s a real opportunity in Europe to support our private sector innovation,« Stirling argues. He points to the lack of a big venture capital market as one of the root causes for the US’s lead: »Europe doesn’t have a good way for bringing capital towards large speculative bets, not like what Silicon Valley does,« Stirling says.

Still, Stirling is convinced that many European countries have already taken important steps to successfully implement AI into government processes. »The European Commission has been investing in data infrastructure across member states for more than ten years,« he says. He thinks that, going forward, rethinking procurement could play a crucial role. »There’s a rule that says you can’t talk about technology in government without talking about procurement rules. We have to design procurement systems that are flexible enough to harness the pace of change within technology.«

When it comes to designing a successful roadmap for AI adoption, Professor Hammerschmid thinks that hiring the right people will play a crucial role: »We need to bring people in who are enthusiastic about using them, and have implemented such projects in the private sector.« He also recommends focusing on small flagship projects and open-source solutions. »Once it works, you can scale these solutions and, ideally, share them all over Europe.«

Public Worldwide Examples

AI is already creating value in the public sector in many places

NORTH

AMERICA

USA

The Sullivan County virtual agent is an artificial intelligence-driven programme designed to immediately answer common questions on the county website. When someone clicks on the chatbot logo in the lower right of their screen, the virtual agent provides a list of topics and a space to type in questions.

USA

MIRA stands for »Medicaid Intelligent Redetermination Assistant«. It helps Medicaid staff clear large backlogs of post-pandemic cases and was launched in 2023 with Google.

Colombia

SOUTH AMERICA

Brazil

A chatbot called »Anna« helps the City of Santana de Parnaíba communicate with residents. »Anna« can handle citizen inquiries on 400 topics, from tax services to new decrees and public works.

Argentina

Prometea, an AI virtual assistant for judicial officials, predicts case solutions and provides information for assembling case files, thus freeing judicial officials from repetitive tasks and potentially streamlining the justice system.

By adopting cloud solutions and applying data analytics powered by AI, the Social Security Management Unit significantly boosted team productivity and allowed citizens to access their social security contribution data digitally within minutes rather than days.

AFRICA

Ghana

The Open Buildings dataset, launched by a Google research team in Accra, uses AI and satellite imagery to pinpoint building locations in remote areas, providing critical data that helps governments understand residents’ needs to prioritise and deliver essential services, including electricity.

Nigeria/Somalia

Google developed an AI-based flood forecasting tool and leveraged it in several African states.

In a pilot project in Nigeria in 2023, Google flood forecast was used to alert local communities. In Somalia, Google provided the Red Cross with inundation risk maps and daily flood forecasts.

ASIA

Thailand

Thailand’s government entered a strategic partnership with Google to modernise government services and public sector delivery through AI technologies, beginning with public transportation, e-government services and big data usage.

Singapore

Smart Nation is Singapore’s overall strategy for digitising the nation, and AI is one component. The initiative leverages AI to optimise traffic flow, energy consumption and more.

EUROPE

Germany

In a proof of concept with Google Cloud, the German city of Wiesbaden, just west of Frankfurt, used machine-learning tools to locate potholes and other street damage by analysing videos of streets and sidewalks. With a hit rate of 94.6%, the solution has so far been extremely reliable.

Greece

The Municipality of Athens used Google Cloud to transform its citizens’ access to information using advanced keyword searches on its website and an AI chatbot with natural language recognition.

United Kingdom

The UK’s Government Digital Service upgraded the search engine on Gov.uk, the main portal for all information about the government. By using Google’s Vertex AI, it improved semantic search capabilities, with tangible results: 14% more users than before are clicking through to relevant results, according to internal analysis.

TRANSFORMING CYBERSECURITY

Nina Olesen, Chief Growth Officer at the European Cyber Security Organisation: »There is a significant shortage of cybersecurity professionals across the EU.«

Because of geopolitical tensions and the growing sophistication of criminals, Europe is experiencing a surge in cyberattacks. AI could be a game changer that helps fortify the continent’s cyberdefences and tilt the odds against the attackers.

The healthcare industry is an increasingly popular target of data hackers. According to Mandiant Consulting, an IT security subsidiary of Google, the number of data leaks has doubled in the past three years. Hacking attacks have real-world consequences. In 2020, hackers infected the IT systems of a hospital in Düsseldorf, Germany, with ransomware, shutting down patient care. In 2023, a different ransomware attack forced one of Barcelona’s main hospitals to cancel 150 non-urgent operations and up to 3,000 patient checkups. And during that same year, hackers stole more than 900,000 files, including medical reports and administrative documents, from a hospital in Verona, Italy. Geopolitical tensions are partly to blame for the surge in cyberattacks against critical infrastructure. But while the war in Ukraine led to an increase in phishing against Ukraine and NATO member states, it’s important to note that cybercrime still makes up the majority of malicious activity online. In 2024, Mandiant responded to almost four times more intrusions conducted by financially motivated actors than those backed by a state.

In Europe, the multiplication of threats has led to a host of regulatory measures in recent years, including the EU Cybersecurity Act, the Cyber Resilience Act and the Network and Information Security Directive 2. The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, formed in 2004, »has grown into the bloc’s frontline coordinator for cyberthreat intelligence, joint exercises, and crisis response,« according to Max Smeets, co-director of the UK-based not-for-profit focused on digital and emerging tech, Virtual Routes. Nina Olesen, Chief Growth Officer at the European Cyber Security Organisation and COO at the Women4Cyber Foundation in Brussels, adds: »There’s definitely a heightened awareness of the critical importance of cybersecurity among EU member states, institutions and businesses.« But there’s still much to be desired when it comes to cyberdefence, according to Smeets: »Think of Europe’s cyberposture as an unfinished house: The walls (regulations) are up, but the wiring (implementation) isn’t complete. Multiple pieces of legislation pull us towards risk-based resilience.

Trainings against Cyberattacks

In 2023, Google.org committed $15 million to launch the Google.org Cybersecurity Seminars programme. Two years later, more than 20 universities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa have been selected to participate. The goal is to train 2,800 students and help 3,500 local organisations and businesses to protect against cyberattacks. As a part of the programme, emerging technology and policy nonprofit Virtual Routes will help universities to set up their programmes. Universities will also have access to donated Titan Security Keys and free cybersecurity training, thanks to our partnership with Possible Digital, a leading EU-based GovTech company.

Learn more on: cyberseminars.withgoogle.com

But many organisations still struggle with the fundamentals of cybersecurity.«

One of the reasons is a »significant shortage of cybersecurity professionals across the EU,« Olesen explains. In addition, alert fatigue is a real problem. According to a Mandiant report from 2023, 69 percent of respondents said they believe their IT employees »feel overwhelmed« by incoming alerts and data. Another challenge is the fact that European cybersecurity efforts lack funding. »We need to find better funding mechanisms for these entities in Europe,« says Olesen. When, in early 2022, cyberattacks hit oil terminals in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, they caused huge disruption and impacted the flow of oil products such as diesel, gasoline and heating oil in the region. The incident shows how hacking attacks targeting sensitive supply chains can cause harm across the economy. »Europe is betting on a fully digital economy where predictive maintenance, real-time logistics and AI-driven services create more efficiencies in every sector, from vineyards to steel mills. That convergence multiplies productivity, but it also fuses once-separate risk pools into a single fault line: a flaw in an IoT gateway or shared API can ripple across industries in minutes,« Smeets says. Olesen adds that protecting businesses’ intellectual property or critical infrastructure is essential for maintaining Europe’s competitiveness.

AI can help enhance cybersecurity defences

Artificial intelligence is a driver of change in this ever-evolving cat-and-mouse game between attackers and defenders. On the one hand, deep-fakes and voice mimicry have increased the effectiveness of personalised social-engineering attacks, and AI tools help attackers to find vulnerabilities or understand stolen files. On the other hand, artificial intelligence can help enhance cybersecurity defences by automating repetitive tasks and identifying vulnerabilities, leading to faster detection and reaction. For example, Google Cloud’s VirusTotal uses AI to determine whether unknown files are malicious. Google Cloud’s Anti-Money Laundering product uses machine learning to identify suspicious financial activities. And AI-powered Enhanced Safe Browsing sends millions of warnings to users who want to access malicious websites. AI has so much potential that in future it could even reverse what’s known as the »Defender‘s Dilemma«: while attackers just need one new technology to break through defences, defenders need to deploy a variety of defences at all times, without any margin for error.

In 2023, Google published the Secure AI Framework (SAIF) in order to start a development that leads to AI models being secureby-default when implemented. A year later, Google and other industry leaders formed the Coalition for Secure AI, creating an open ecosystem of AI and security experts dedicated to sharing best practices for secure AI deployment and collaborating on AI security research and product development. These types of collaborations are essential to spread best practices across public and private sectors and help to unlock AI’s potential for giving the defender a decisive advantage over attackers.

Navigating a Connected World with Confidence

With young people increasingly immersed in the digital world, ensuring their online safety is crucial. The Future Report gathers insights from 7,000 teens across Europe, exploring their experiences with AI, digital wellbeing and the need for a balanced approach to navigating technology’s challenges.

The digital realm is undeniably central to young people’s lives, a trend set to continue. To address the unique challenges this presents, Michael McGrath, EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, leads efforts to safeguard Europe’s youth online. Earlier this year at an expert event on kids’ online safety hosted by Google, Commissioner McGrath underscored the European Commission’s commitment to this critical issue, stating, »Growing up in a digital world is now intrinsic to young people’s lives.(...) From consuming services to engaging in social media and video games, the online realm is central to their daily experiences.... Our paramount priority is establishing a robust framework to ensure the safety of minors online, and we must acknowledge the significant challenges.«

As McGrath advances this important work, he is joined by governments across Europe grappling with the question of how to ensure young people can access the benefits of technology while also protecting them. As policymakers and regulators forge ahead with these

Imagine you’re a school administrator. Ask Gemini to design a school-wide AI creativity challenge. The goal: empower students to devise innovative uses for AI tools in art, storytelling, coding or problem-solving.

vital protections, it remains increasingly critical to hear perspectives and experiences of young people. This arrives alongside The Future Report, a new and comprehensive research initiative co-created by youth research experts at Livity and teens themselves, and supported by Google and a network of expert partners. The report sheds light on the perspectives of over 7,000 teenagers aged 13-18 across seven European nations. The report explores how young people navigate their digital lives, interact with artificial intelligence, strive for digital wellbeing and envision the future of technology. It paints a picture of a generation deeply immersed in the online world, yet discerning about its opportunities and challenges, and eager to harness technology for learning, creativity and connection.

AI: Exploring the benefits and boundaries

The report reveals that AI is rapidly becoming integrated into teens’ lives. The majority use AI tools for learning and creative tasks, such as schoolwork (43%) and research (35%), and find them helpful for explaining difficult topics or providing instant answers. The report also shows teens are thoughtful about trustworthiness and accuracy; as Aleksander, 18, from Poland, shared, »I don’t quite trust this artificial intelligence, because I’ve been let down a few times. (...) I asked it to summarise a required reading – but what it described never actually happened.« This highlights awareness of the limitations: teens recognise AI’s potential, but they also express caution about accuracy, misinformation and the risk of over-reliance. As Jack, 17, from Ireland, succinctly put it, »AI can be a shortcut, but it shouldn’t do the thinking for you.« Crucially, teens feel schools are lagging behind;

Challenges and opportunities that teenagers associate with the digital world taken from The Future Report.

there’s frustration when teachers use AI but prohibit student use for homework, with over a quarter (25%) reporting no approved AI tools in schools. Teens desire more guidance from educators on how to best navigate and utilise AI, emphasising the need for AI literacy to understand not just how to use tools, but when it’s appropriate.

Digital wellbeing: seeking balance and connection

MARTINO, 16 years, Italy

»Al is one of humanity’s greatest tools for self-improvement. It provides the opportunity to have a machine by your side that has made countless mistakes and learned from them.«

DIMITRIOS, 16 years, Greece

»Media literacy: being able to evaluate the content online, but also when it is appropriate to use AI tools. It’s one thing to know how to use them and another when to use them.«

LIA, 16 years, Spain

»Technology should help us fix the real issues – like the climate, like giving people access, not just invent more stuff to sell.«

SOHANN, 16 years, France

»AI means I work less – but I don’t think less.«

The report also shows that teens are actively striving for digital wellbeing. While a majority (57%) feel that their online and offline lives are »balanced«, achieving this balance isn’t always easy. Teens grapple with »fear of missing out« and the pressure to stay constantly updated online. As Cáit, 16, from Ireland, explained, »If you’re not on it, then you don’t really understand the jokes, you don’t really understand what’s happening in school, you don’t really understand what everyone’s talking about.« Parents and family members are the most trusted source of advice on healthy online habits. The report reveals that the majority (54%) of teens indicate their parents use strategies or tools to manage their online activity. With over a third (35%) reporting their parents have never done so, and 12% being ›unsure‹, this highlights gaps that need to be further addressed.

Shaping the future of tech: a collaborative approach

Commissioner McGrath emphasised the importance of collaboration in safeguarding young people online. »Effective coordination is absolutely essential, and we are committed to robust consultation,« he stated. He highlighted the Commission’s commitment to engaging with member states, the industry and civil society organisations, as well as convening expert forums and conducting rigorous regulatory impact assessments. »It is vital that we listen to all voices and actors in this space in a truly inclusive manner,« he stressed. Concurrently, the European Commission works on a continent-wide technical solution for digital IDs issued by governments or other trusted sources. Google has endorsed this effort on age assurance, acknowledging the need for a variety of methods to ensure every company meets its responsibilities.

The Future Report reinforces this call for collaboration. As Carla, from Spain, suggests, »People who know about behaviour, like psychologists or sociologists, should be involved in saying what is acceptable and what is not with AI.« They advocate for independent experts and trusted governments to regulate technology, ensuring it aligns with human ethics and rights. Ultimately, safeguarding young people online requires a multi-faceted approach. As Commissioner McGrath concluded, »Our focus is on identifying and addressing gaps, implementing necessary and effective measures to protect young people online.« By combining robust regulation, informed by perspectives from young people, such as those in The Future Report, with a collaborative spirit that includes the voices of young people themselves, Europe can strive to create a digital environment that is not only innovative, but also safe, empowering and truly serves the wellbeing of the next generation.

GOOGLE INITIATIVES

Tech companies, like Google, play a crucial role in helping young people confidently and safely navigate the Internet. Google provides age-appropriate experiences, products and programmes designed to empower users and foster healthy, positive digital habits.

AGE-APPROPRIATE ONLINE EXPERIENCES

Built-in Default Protections

For users identified as under 18, Google applies default protections to enhance online safety and privacy. SafeSearch filters explicit content, ad personalisation is disabled, and sensitive ad categories are restricted.

Dedicated Safe Spaces

We create age-appropriate digital environments. YouTube Kids offers a safer space for video exploration, while Google Kids Space on selected Android tablets recommends quality content based on chosen interests, fostering learning and discovery.

Educational Tools for Managed Learning

Google Classroom helps educators to create engaging, personalised learning experiences. It saves teachers time, connecting them with students and parents via embedded tools, creating a structured, safe digital learning environment.

PREPARING TEENS FOR AN AI-FIRST FUTURE

Empowering Teens with Information and Tools

To help teens use Gemini Apps confidently, our teen experience highlights key tools for content evaluation, like our Double Check feature, which allows users to evaluate the accuracy of Gemini.

Teaching Teens How to Use AI Safely and Responsibly

We’ve integrated media literacy tools, including web links and Google Search, into products like Gemini. Young users also go through a dedicated onboarding process that includes our generative AI literacy guide, developed with family safety experts.

Supporting AI Education

Experience AI, developed by Google DeepMind and the Raspberry Pi Foundation, is an educational programme providing teachers with resources to teach 11-14 year olds about AI, data privacy, media literacy and responsible AI use. Expanding to 17 countries and 13 languages across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, it aims to reach over 2 million young people.

HELPING FAMILIES STAY SAFER ONLINE

Helping Protect Teens

Our models are trained to detect topics that are inappropriate for teens. We are offering them at no cost on Android to help developers and governments build safer digital spaces.

Family Link

Family Link provides tools that respect families’ individual choices with technology, helping them to create healthy, positive digital habits. This includes setting screen time limits, managing contacts, location sharing and creating digital breaks. We also partner with civil society to train parents on how to use these tools via our Meet Leo Programme.

Be Internet Awesome

Be Internet Awesome, a programme by Google, iKeepSafe and The Net Safety Collaborative, teaches kids how to navigate the Internet by learning the fundamentals of digital citizenship and safety.

Learn more about Google’s initiatives

DEAR EUROPE

For nearly 25 years, Europe has been a place where Google builds, learns and grows — through local teams, long-term investments and shared ambitions for a resilient digital future.

Up to now, Google has built 7 data centres and developed 13 cloud regions in Europe and built 6 crucial subsea cables connecting Europe to the world – all done in partnership with European companies like Orange, T-Systems and TIM. We are also expanding Google campuses that are hubs for local talent – and we keep growing.

Economic impact

Offices Europe

offices across 25 countries in Europe reflect Google’s long-standing presence – deeply rooted in local talent, driven by curiosity and creativity and open to collaboration.

All of Google’s offices are designed with local touches. For example, in Brussels, you will find rooms like »Tomorrowland«, »Stromae« and »Magritte«, all designed to honour the local culture and presence.

31,000

Google employees work across Europe, from data centres to R&D hubs.

Google’s platforms and products generated a total economic impact of €179 billion in 2023, supporting around 3 million jobs across Europe.

Tools like Google Search and Workspace

together contributed an estimated €560 billion in improved worker productivity in a single year.

Upskilling and research

Grow with Google has supported over 14 million people across Europe to gain key digital skills since 2015. Google also partners with key research institutions across Europe, such as Institut Curie, which is applying AI in cancer diagnosis and treatment, with the goal of developing more precise and effective treatments.

European Perspectives on Tech & Society