As Europe advances toward digital sovereignty and sustainable growth, the focus is on innovations that deliver high performance while not increasing power consumption. Artificial intelligence is at the heart of this transformation, moving us from a smartphone-centric model to an agentic paradigm where AI proactively assists users through hybrid architectures that blend cloud and edge intelligence.
Policymakers, industry leaders, and innovators play a pivotal role in realizing this potential by accelerating the integration of edge AI into strategic sectors, fostering sovereign AI ecosystems, and promoting distributed intelligence across edge and cloud. These steps can help Europe build an AI landscape rooted in sovereignty and openness, powering a competitive, resilient, and sustainable digital economy, while inspiring global collaboration.
Edge AI: where people and the real world meet technology
Edge AI the ability to run AI workloads directly on smartphones, laptops, and other connected devices plays a pivotal role in scaling AI adoption by complementing cloud infrastructure and becoming an integral part of daily life for consumers and enterprises alike.
The edge is where humans and AI engage with the real world constantly and seamlessly. It is where context and immediacy drive impact, and where AI transitions from potential to practical use cases, shaping policy choices around trust and interoperability.
Edge AI also brings intelligence directly into the technologies that interact with the world and machines around us, supporting efficient and safety-rich industrial operations. Processing data locally enables time-critical, context-aware decisions, keeps sensitive information local, and drives more efficient operations. It also can be leveraged to energy consumption through the use of low-power computing architectures.
The next wave of AI happens from the edge outward. The cloud remains vital for AI training and updates, but the greatest value is created where data originates, and decisions occur in devices, machines, and local systems. Europe’s opportunity is to build a robust, connected AI ecosystem that reinforces digital sovereignty.
When intelligence moves closer to where work happens, edge AI unlocks new possibilities across sectors, driving breakthrough innovations in factories, natural resources fields, and more
Edge intelligence can anchor this vision, complementing Europe’s strengths in central compute, trusted data environments, industrial expertise, and world-class research, and helping manage energy costs tied to data transmission and central processing by performing tasks locally.
Transforming industries
Edge AI is already transforming multiple sectors. In agriculture, it enables precise irrigation and optimizes water usage even in environments with limited connectivity. In semiconductor manufacturing, edge AI powers real-time, on-device detection of microscopic impurities before they affect production quality. In energy operations, it enhances safety through continuous monitoring, predictive analytics, and automated responses that prevent potential hazards.
When intelligence moves closer to where work happens, edge AI unlocks new possibilities across sectors, driving breakthrough innovations in factories, natural resources fields, and more.
For example, the AI Gigafactories enhance European competitiveness and empower small and large businesses by enabling advanced edge AI applications across critical sectors such as industrial robotics and automotive.
Bridging cloud and edge
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. collaborates with European partners to translate this vision into progress. Our advanced AI accelerator solutions designed for high-performance, efficient inference in data centers coupled with our leading on-device AI platforms for smartphones, PCs, XR devices, and industrial sensors exemplify the innovation driving this shift enable intelligence to operate precisely where needed, from the cloud to the edge.
Developers are the architects of Europe’s digital future, and their creativity determines how quickly edge AI moves from concept to reality
This aligns with the EU’s Apply AI Strategy, helping businesses integrate AI into practical, cost-effective solutions. The hybrid approach is the foundation for scaling AI across sectors and geographies.
Empowering developers
No transformation is complete without the people who make it possible. Developers are the architects of Europe’s digital future, and their creativity determines how quickly edge AI moves from concept to reality. Qualcomm Technologies’ acquisition of Arduino reinforces this vision. Arduino has long been a trusted platform for innovators from at-home makers to industrial engineers - enabling rapid prototyping and deployment of intelligent solutions.
By combining Arduino’s developer-friendly ecosystem with our advanced AI and connectivity technologies, we empower a new generation of creators to build edge applications that are deeply integrated with Europe’s strategic sectors. When developers thrive, innovation thrives and Europe’s edge advantage becomes unstoppable.
A call-to-action
Europe must invest in tools, platforms, and ecosystems that make AI development accessible, scalable, and aligned with regional values. Policies should foster open standards, support developer education, and encourage collaboration across borders.
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