A regional AI fund, more growth capital, support for SMEs adopting artificial intelligence and a more consistent regulatory approach are the main recommendations of the ‘CEE AI Challenger 2026’ report prepared by the CEE Digital Coalition. The authors argue that Central and Eastern Europe has the engineering talent, industrial base and growing technology sector needed to become an important AI hub, but lacks sufficient scale, capital and cross-border coordination.
The CEE Digital Coalition brings together digital-industry organisations from across the region, including Poland. The report is based on consultations with representatives of government, business, technology, academia and expert communities in several CEE countries.
Discussions held in Bucharest, Prague, Vilnius, Bratislava and Brussels focused on the main barriers to AI development: access to capital, the pace of adoption, computing infrastructure, skills and regulation.
‘We wanted to move beyond another debate about AI’s potential and ask what our region actually needs to capture it. The same problems came up repeatedly: too little capital for scaling companies, adoption that is too slow, insufficient infrastructure and the risk of regulatory fragmentation,’ says Michał Kanownik, president of Digital Poland and one of the leaders of the CEE Digital Coalition.
A CEE AI Fund for companies that want to scale
One of the report’s most concrete proposals is the creation of a CEE AI Fund, combining public and private capital and investing in companies at different stages of development, with particular focus on scale-ups seeking larger financing rounds.
The report argues that CEE is relatively good at creating startups, but much weaker at financing them once they begin to scale internationally and require substantial capital for expansion, talent and infrastructure.
Globally, AI companies raised USD 258.7 billion in venture capital in 2025. Around 75% went to US companies, while only 6% went to companies across the entire EU. AI accounted for around 61% of total global VC value, up from 30% in 2022.
The gap becomes particularly visible in larger rounds. European investors remain active in smaller transactions, but their share drops sharply in AI rounds above EUR 25 million, where capital from the United States and the United Kingdom dominates.
Poland still lags in business adoption of AI
The second pillar of the report is faster adoption of AI across the economy, especially among small and medium-sized companies. In 2025, around 20% of EU companies with at least 10 employees used AI. In Poland, the share was only 8.4%, while in Romania it was 5.2%. By contrast, Denmark reached 42% and Finland 37.8%.
The report argues that AI policy should not focus only on a small group of technology leaders. Thousands of conventional companies need practical support in deploying AI in production, logistics, sales, administration and customer service.
Computing power is becoming another bottleneck
Access to infrastructure and computing capacity is another constraint. The authors call for better coordination of regional data centres, supercomputing resources and European AI infrastructure so that firms and research teams can access capacity without each country trying to build a complete ecosystem on its own.
One AI Act should not mean 27 different interpretations
The Coalition also warns against fragmented implementation of EU regulation. In its view, a common European AI Act will deliver less benefit if companies face materially different interpretations, procedures and supervisory practices in every member state.
The report therefore calls for more consistent enforcement, clearer guidance for businesses and a greater use of regulatory sandboxes, particularly for smaller companies.
CEE does not need its own Silicon Valley
The broader message is that Central and Eastern Europe should build on its own strengths: engineering talent, industrial capacity, strong universities, growing digital companies and experience in manufacturing. The region does not need to replicate Silicon Valley, but it does need a larger integrated market for capital, infrastructure and technology adoption.
For Poland, the challenge is particularly clear. The country has a large domestic economy and strong technology talent, but business AI adoption remains well below the EU average. Without faster investment and implementation, the gap could widen even as the region produces more startups and technical specialists.
