We launched Hacktivate AI as a first-of-its-kind policy hackathon to build on the momentum of adoption and accelerate wider uptake. Last week in Brussels, 65 participants—including representatives from EU institutions and national governments, large enterprises, SMEs, startups, economists, and AI specialists—came together to design real, workable ideas to help Europe lead in AI.

The report compiles 20 ideas developed during the hackathon, from helping people learn new skills to thrive, to making it easier for every sector to use AI, and cutting red tape so Europe’s single market can really benefit.

The ideas include the introduction of an Individual AI Learning Account to empower individuals on their professional journey (Proposal 1), the creation of an AI Champions Network to encourage AI adoption by SMEs (Proposal 3), or shared resources for the public sector through a European GovAI Hub (Proposal 12). A recurring theme across many proposals is simplification, including a call for Relentless Harmonisation (Proposal 15) to advance the Digital Single Market.

Martin Signoux, EU AI Policy Lead at OpenAI, said, “Hacktivate AI brought together the energy of Europe’s leading businesses, civil society, and public institutions with the goal to close the gap between the bloc’s AI ambition and reality. It’s clear that achieving broad-based adoption will require meaningful interventions that help Europe’s businesses and organisations put AI to work in all walks of life. We hope that the EU’s Apply AI Strategy will deliver on the same goal and translate Europe’s ambition into concrete action.”