Meet the first edition of the AI Founders Club 2025
The EIT AI Community co-hosts the International AI Summit 2025 on 11 December, Brussels
Artificial Intelligence is no longer a buzzword reserved for research labs and tech giants. Across Europe, cities, corporates, and public institutions are wrestling with pressing questions:
- How can AI optimise logistics and supply chains?
- What role does synthetic data play in protecting privacy?
- Can generative AI strengthen public services or manufacturing processes?
These are not abstract puzzles, but rather urgent challenges shaping Europe’s competitiveness and social wellbeing.
Enter the AI Challenge 2025, launched by the EIT AI Community.
Beyond a Competition: A Matchmaking Arena
What makes the AI Challenge different from your typical startup pitch competition is its matchmaking design. Instead of asking founders to build solutions in a vacuum, the challenge starts with real needs put forward by companies, institutions, and cities.
Startups aren’t just competing for prize money; they are solving problems that stakeholders have already put on the table. Problems that, if addressed, could scale across industries and borders.
To get an idea what that can look like, check out lasts year's winners stories: Mayday.ai, Isarsoft and Nuavis.
What’s in It for Startups?
Startups joining the AI Challenge gain more than visibility. They step into a pipeline that can accelerate their growth:
- Direct connection with challenge owners actively seeking solutions.
- A €10,000 award to kickstart proof-of-concept development.
- Membership of the AI Founders Club, giving access to tailored support and the wider EIT innovation ecosystem.
- Credibility and exposure by being selected as part of a Europe-wide AI initiative.
In other words: it’s not just about winning; it’s about positioning your startup at the heart of Europe’s AI movement.
Why It Matters Now
Europe is doubling down on AI. Regulatory frameworks, data spaces, and cross-sector collaborations are being built as we speak. For startups, this creates a window of opportunity: those who engage now will not only find customers, but also help shape how AI is applied and governed across the continent.
The AI Challenge 2025 is one of those rare chances to be both entrepreneurial and influential, helping real organisations while contributing to Europe’s leadership in responsible, impactful AI.
Time to Step Forward
The call is now open for solution providers. If you are a startup with an AI solution that could move the needle on one of the challenges, this is your invitation.
- Applications are open now
- Online infosession: 3 October
- Deadline: 29 October 2025
- Pitching & winners: November 2025
A groundbreaking new report co-authored by EIT Health and EIT Digital as part of the EIT AI Community reveals that Europe’s leading AI start-ups aren’t driven by coding skills alone – they thrive on a mix of deep sector expertise and interdisciplinary soft skills. The report includes regional data, key policy recommendations, and insights to support AI workforce development across Europe’s healthcare and innovation sectors.
The AI Skills and Occupations in the European Start-up Ecosystem report, powered by the EIT AI Community's SkillSync platform, analyses the skillsets of over 23,000 professionals across 3,600 AI start-ups. Its findings challenge conventional thinking about what fuels AI success in Europe.
While strong foundations in programming and machine learning are widespread, the report highlights that start-ups combining technical know-how with sector-specific knowledge (e.g. in healthcare, engineering, or manufacturing) – and crucial soft skills such as communication and project management – are more likely to contribute to regional innovation.
“Competence in general IT skills alone does not drive innovation. To truly unlock AI’s potential, we need to go beyond just digital skills and cultivate advanced, interdisciplinary capabilities that reflect the real-world needs and opportunities of each sector,” said Dr Magí Lluch-Ariet, Data Manager at EIT Health.
This message aligns with Europe’s broader ambition to lead in AI, especially as the European Commission’s AI Continent Action Plan gains traction. The report’s findings offer data-driven recommendations for upskilling and aligning educational strategies across regions.
Among the key insights:
- Healthcare and engineering skills boost performance: Regions with interdisciplinary capabilities consistently outperform others with similar technical baselines.
- Soft skills and sector understanding matter: Particularly in underperforming regions, these are often the missing link in innovation.
- Regulatory and audiovisual expertise is underrepresented: These areas remain critical bottlenecks in AI adoption, particularly in health.
Using a new Skill Intensity metric, the report maps six regional skill clusters across Europe, allowing educators, policymakers, and corporates to benchmark workforce strengths and plan tailored upskilling programmes.
The report suggests how local skills gaps could be addressed to drive innovation. For example, start-ups in Eastern Europe could benefit from a focus on multi-disciplinary ‘soft’ skills and sector-specific skills. This would allow them to build on their extremely solid base of skills, such as in ICT, which are extremely prevalent in AI start-ups, even if not correlated with regional innovation output on their own.
In addition to supporting start-ups, EIT Health has long explored the implications of AI for the wider healthcare workforce. Its 2020 report, Transforming Healthcare with AI, highlighted the importance of preparing healthcare professionals for digital transformation.
“Innovation doesn’t happen in isolation. At EIT Health, we see through our programmes that real impact comes from bringing education, research and business together in practical ways. This report reinforces that it’s not just about connecting these sectors – but about enabling the flow of skills between them. Whether it’s AI in healthcare or other cutting-edge technologies, the most successful innovations are driven by diverse, applied capabilities – technical, scientific, managerial – that our programmes are designed to nurture and deliver,” says Graham Armitage, Director of Delivery, EIT Health.
🔗 Want to dive deeper? Discover how SkillSync is transforming learning and teaching through AI-powered skill matching. Join our webinar on July 23 to explore its latest features, datasets, and tools for educators, professionals, and organisations.
The EIT AI Community, in collaboration with AI and Beers and the European DIGITAL SME Alliance, successfully launched AI Agora - an initiative aimed at fostering a vibrant AI ecosystem in Europe.
This dynamic gathering provided a unique space where ideas flourished, where experts and newcomers alike could explore the latest advancements, challenges, and opportunities in AI.
An Evening of Connection and Conversation
AI Agora’s inaugural event took place in Thessaloniki, Greece, on September 9th, 2024. It featured engaging discussions, networking, and collaboration among AI innovators, researchers, entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts. Attendees connected with industry leaders, learned about EIT funding opportunities, and explored how AI can drive societal and economic impact across Europe.
The event emphasized EIT Digital’s commitment to driving digital transformation and fostering technological leadership across Europe. By connecting AI visionaries and enablers, AI Agora created a space for productive dialogues, collaborative opportunities, and the exchange of groundbreaking ideas.
Attendees explored how AI can drive societal and economic impact, gaining insights into EIT Digital’s support mechanisms. The event showcased how we are committed to empowering entrepreneurs and researchers to navigate complex challenges, access resources, and bring transformative AI solutions to market.
A Successful Event for European AI
Participants delved into cutting-edge AI topics, gained insights into the latest advancements, and formed valuable connections within the community. The event underscored the importance of collaboration in strengthening Europe’s AI landscape.
AI Agora marked the beginning of a movement to shape the future of artificial intelligence in Europe. Its launch reaffirmed EIT Digital’s mission to ensure that we emphasise AI’s benefits, promoting a future where European innovation leads the world. We aim to support a thriving AI ecosystem in Europe: one in which where ideas become impact, and innovation drives progress.
EIT Community is proud to have actively participated in the International Artificial Intelligence Summit 2024, held in Brussels on December 5, 2024. This high-profile event brought together nearly 200 in-person attendees and over 300 virtual participants from around the world, creating a vital platform for dialogue and collaboration on the future of AI governance, policy, and innovation.
The summit addressed the most pressing issues in AI development and governance, with a particular focus on how global cooperation can enhance responsible and equitable AI deployment. The event was co-located and sponsored by EIT Community, enabling us to highlight our mission of fostering a balanced and sustainable AI ecosystem in Europe and beyond.
Shaping the future of AI
The conference featured over 30 sessions and panel discussions, making for an exhaustive and comprehensive overview. Among the key themes were AI regulation and governance, as well as their surrounding, evolving regulatory landscape, including developments such the EU AI Act and the new EU AI Office. Participants also delved into the influence of geopolitical competition on AI development and governance. Other discussion points touched on equitable access to AI technologies and the strategies needed to ensure that all segments of society benefit from AI, AI safety, and risk mitigation. These discussions centered around establishing global standards to address the risks of AI deployment while maintaining safety. Another important area was the development of global standards and ethical guidelines for AI, with a focus on fostering international cooperation to govern AI technologies. The summit also explored the role of AI, robotics, and automation in driving innovation and enhancing economic growth.
Our Contribution
EIT Digital made a significant contribution to the summit, hosting a well-attended side event that explored how AI can drive inclusive growth and foster an intergenerational workforce. The session addressed key challenges, such as the digital skills gap and the need for age-inclusive AI tools.
This event perfectly aligned with EIT Community's mission to drive Europe’s digital transformation through innovation and education.
Looking ahead
Post-event feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with surveyed participants rating the organization and content delivery as "Good" or "Excellent." We were thrilled to see such strong appreciation, as the final report highlighted that the "EIT Digital workshop [was] very helpful in the morning, providing us with the opportunity to contribute to the discussion points throughout the day, even if we were not the main speakers of the Summit."
EIT Digital remains committed to advancing the responsible development and adoption of AI technologies. Insights gained from the International AI Summit 2024 will inform our ongoing work in policy development, research, and innovation.
Published by Giulia Argante in Community News
Tags: AI
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