Regional AI fund and Three Seas format: Companies seek to halt innovation drain

Central and Eastern Europe does not have to become another Silicon Valley, but it cannot afford to remain a low-cost assembly platform. That is the message technology companies want to bring to the Three Seas format, arguing that the region’s industrial, engineering and IT strengths can support a home-grown AI centre.

The diagnosis and proposed remedy are due to be presented by the CEE Digital Coalition at the Economic Forum in Karpacz. Rzeczpospolita has already learned details of the report. The coalition says the region’s opportunity lies in deploying artificial intelligence across manufacturing, automotive, logistics, energy and defence.

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Central and Eastern Europe is 150 million people and an economy worth €2.5 trillion, yet we still come to Brussels to negotiate as individual countries.

The sector already represents almost 5% of regional GDP and provides 1.64 million jobs, while exports of commercial ICT services grew more than sixfold between 2005 and 2021. Digital Poland, Business & Science Poland and organisations from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania argue that this potential needs to be unlocked through regional cooperation.

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Our goal can no longer be simply to catch up with the rest, because we have what it takes to become an innovation centre where artificial intelligence is actually created, not just bought.

Tomasz Snażyk, president of AI Chamber CEE, said Central and Eastern Europe represented 150 million people and an economy worth €2.5 trillion, yet its countries still negotiated with Brussels separately. The aim, he said, should no longer be simply to catch up, but to build a centre where AI is created rather than merely purchased.

The report also acknowledges the region cannot directly compete with US and Chinese giants to build the largest AI models. Citing McKinsey analysis, it says successful adoption of generative and traditional AI could unlock between €280 billion and €700 billion in added value in Central Europe. Michał Kanownik of Digital Poland said the region should build on its existing strengths, remove barriers to business expansion and ensure EU rules support innovation instead of restricting it. Romania’s ANIS association similarly warned that the speed and quality of AI adoption will determine whether regional companies compete through margins, innovation and unique value, or remain trapped in a low-margin, cost-based outsourcing model.

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We do not need to copy Silicon Valley.