RAISE and Beyond: Europe’s Strategy for AI-Driven Research at AIS25 in Copenhagen

On November 3-4, Prof. Jan Bjaalie, EBRAINS Chief Data and Knowledge Officer, attended the AI in Science Summit 2025. The event explored how AI is revolutionising scientific discovery and how Europe can lead this transformative change.  

A main point highlighted was that progress in science hinges on three essential elements: Data, Compute, and Talent - along with Questions and Funding. 

In a thought-provoking panel discussion during the Life Science session, Michael Bronstein, Scientific Director for AI of AITHYRA, Research Institute for Biomedical AI of the Austrian Academy of Sciences  (OeAW), highlighted a profound quote from Nobel Laureate Sydney Brenner: ‘Progress in science depends on new techniques, new discoveries, and new ideas, probably in that order.' 

This perfectly encapsulates the pivotal role AI plays in today’s scientific landscape.  

RAISE Pilot launch: Europea’s new resource for AI powered science  

In the afternoon, Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy and Ekaterina Zaharieva, Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation at the European Commission launched a new flagship initiative under the Applied AI Strategy and the European Strategy for AI in Science: the RAISE Pilot, funded with €107 million under Horizon Europe.  

RAISE will be a virtual European institute, pooling and coordinating core AI resources including computational power, data, talent and research funding across the EU Member States and the private sector, to drive both the development of frontier AI and AI-enabled scientific progress. 

Key insights from the Summit 

The Summit demonstrated many remarkable examples of the use of various AI approaches for research and innovation. A significant focus was placed on the harmonisation and curation of data, with clear guidelines and standards for several data categories increasingly appreciated. Differences in practices for acquiring and organising data amongst hospitals, and amongst labs for experimental data, pose challenges for the use of data in AI applications. Knowledge graphs offer a promising approach for integrating complex datasets, and EBRAINS is at the forefront of these efforts. 

As part of the evolving ecosystem of European research infrastructures, EBRAINS provides open access to high-quality neuroscience data and tools supporting AI-driven research. Building on its established digital infrastructure, EBRAINS is well-positioned to play a key role in advancing Europe’s ambition to lead in AI-powered science, empowering the international research community. 

• Explore EBRAINS Open Science Data, Tools and Services here.

• Read more about the RAISE initiative here.