Europe Urged to Launch €11 Billion Physical AI Partnership

BRUSSELS -- Europe's Association for AI, Data and Robotics (ADRA) has asked the European Union to set up a Physical Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Partnership from 2028 to 2034 with funding objectives matching those of the bloc’s nearly €11 billion semiconductor partnership.

According to a proposal made by ADRA Nov. 10, the European Commission is asked to keep artificial intelligence (AI), data and robotics together in one partnership and avoid splitting them into different partnerships.

The association has asked the commission to create an initiative to enable European roboticists to go from research and prototypes to products, where industrial partners define which technologies get funded.

This request is made as the Commission is preparing its next portfolio of European Partnerships within the framework of Horizon Europe, the research and innovation program of the European Union. The commission plans to finalize the portfolio by the end of 2026, and new partnerships are to be launched in 2028.

The €11 billion is a funding objective set by ADRA and is not the approved budget for physical AI. ADRA has not got any commitment from the European Commission on setting up the partnership and its funding.

Bridging the Research-Production Gap

ADRA points out that there is potential in Europe's industrial infrastructure and experience in robotics to create physical artificial intelligence systems, but companies face difficulties with translating research into actual product useable by industrial clients.

The proposal is based on consultations conducted with 10 industries' representatives: automotive production, aerospace, mining, and shipbuilding, along with companies involved in the creation and development of robotics systems.

During these consultations, 13 common barriers to adoption were identified. According to ADRA, European industrial clients would like to have European competitors but there are no proper products for them to use at the moment.

ADRA suggests a process through which industrial clients could collectively formulate requirements and aggregate their demand for innovative robotic systems.

There is also a need for public funding to reduce the financial risk of creating hardware with gradual release of funding depending on the level of progress from prototype to product development.

One more suggestion is to establish Robotics Skills Qualification Centers and test facilities to test robots for their skills before industrial adoption according to certain standards.

This could be helpful both for manufacturers and customers when comparing systems with certain performance standards instead of demonstrations.

EU Already Funds Physical AI Research

Some measures already exist within the Horizon Europe initiative by the European Commission to support robotics driven by AI.

One such initiative is the "Accelerating Physical AI" challenge within the 2026 European Innovation Council challenge which will support initiatives combining robotics with intelligent perception, adaptive learning and autonomous decision-making.

There is another Horizon Europe funding initiative for the year 2027 that will address AI-driven robotics integration in industries including issues like interoperability, digital twins and reusable test platforms.

The proposal made by ADRA is more advanced than this in that it will provide for the creation of a specific partnership over the next seven years of funding by the EU.