Moving forward, European AI regulations should be shaped and seen as enablers of AI innovation rather than stoppers of development. Given this foundation, its tech-savvy mindset and highly entrepreneurial spirit, Central and Eastern Europe could become a strong and influential player on the European and global tech map. The region should however foster deeper cooperation and alignment of its approach towards AI. These are some of the key points made during the CEE AI Challenger Forum 2025, an event dedicated to honest discussion on AI implementation and relevant regulations held in Brussels.

Public officials, business leaders, researchers and NGO gathered in Brussels during the CEE AI Challenger Forum 2025 shared their recommendations for the development of artificial intelligence in Central and Eastern Europe and highlighted the key obstacles standing in the way of AI advancement in the region and the entire EU. The conference organised by Digital Poland Association, CEE Digital Coalition and CYBER SCIENCE Silesian Centre for Legal Engineering, Technology and Digital Competence featured discussions on AI-relevant regulations, implementation process, issues of reskilling and job market transformation, cooperation between the scientific community and business and more.

Many dimensions of cooperation
Boosting cooperation on different levels was a recurring theme of conversations held during the conference. Experts argued that closer collaboration is one of the fundamental requirements for making progress in the field of AI in Central and Eastern Europe and leveraging the technology’s potential to boost the region’s economy. - The region needs to take steps towards developing a regional AI strategy, taking into account the strengths of each country. Harmonizing AI regulations on CEE Member States’ national level and across the EU to facilitate cross-border cooperation and business scaling is also recommended. Finally, progress will require cooperation between the public and the private sectors, with participation of the scientific community - speakers of the #CEE AI Challenger Forum stated.

Overcoming the challenges
The Forum provided an opportunity to pinpoint some of the most pressing challenges and obstacles in the way of AI development and adoption, applicable to Central Eastern Europe as well as the whole EU. - While we are looking at the first signs of a shift in the European approach to digital regulations, their sheer number and difficulties with navigating the regulatory maze are standing in the way of progress. They put particular strain on SMEs and companies aspiring to scale up in Europe - participants of the Forum noted. - Companies in Europe consider access to AI skills to be one of the key obstacles in implementing and deploying AI. We are still struggling with inequalities in access to technology between SMEs and large enterprises. While sufficient funding and increased spending is definitely a must, money is not the silver bullet, able to fix all the problems faced by tech businesses in Europe. Ability of companies to scale up is also still hindered by fragmentation of the European market as well as the hardships of regulatory compliance, often discouraging or entirely stopping small businesses from innovating - speakers added.

Recommendations for reaching realistic goals
The Forum created a platform for sharing recommendations for creating a coherent, regional AI strategy, which would allow Central and Eastern Europe to leverage the unique strengths of the region in order to capture the transformative potential of AI and address the identified challenges and obstacles. These suggestions included, but were not limited to, building an AI supercluster in the CEE region, by linking the region's existing supercomputing centers, addressing AI education and talent development needs, e.g. by funding re-skilling programs as well as establishing regional AI regulatory coordination office and developing simplified compliance guidelines for regional AI companies.

Speakers argued, however, that the goals and expectations of the region should be realistic and based in the current state of the global technological landscape. – CEE does not have to, and most likely will not be able to, become a world leader in AI. It can however become a strong and influential player on the European technological map. Region’s success in this regard relies on cooperation, consistency and smart investments. Implementation of a coherent joint strategy will allow CEE to gain a technological edge, develop local economies and attract global investment – comments Michał Kanownik, President of Digital Poland Association, representing CEE Digital Coalition.

CEE AI Challenger Forum 2025 was the first in a series of three events scheduled this year dedicated to discussing the AI revolution in Central Eastern Europe.