As Europe works to reduce its reliance on non-European tech giants and regain control over key digital infrastructures, more and more Member States are launching their own “sovereign AI” initiatives, a development that is reshaping the continent’s technological direction.
These national efforts reflect a broader ambition: ensuring that the design and use of digital technologies take place within European jurisdictions and follow European principles. In Germany, for example, the public project SOOFI is developing an open source model intended to handle complex tasks, a way of keeping essential digital capabilities “in European hands”. Other countries are moving in the same direction, investing in tools that include their languages, data protection requirements and economic realities. At the same time, the EU is rapidly expanding the network of infrastructures supported by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, the AI Factories. As of October 2025, there are 19 of these centres across the Union.
They provide powerful computing resources, technical assistance and innovation services to start-ups, SMEs, researchers and public-interest initiatives. Through them, Europe is equipping itself to develop and deploy advanced digital tools while keeping control of data and governance. This is where the Testing and Experimentation Facilities (TEFs) play a strategic role, and CoordinaTef supports them in this mission. As highlighted in our previous release, the sectorial TEFs such as AgrifoodTEF, TEF-Health, AI-MATTERS and CitCom.AI act as bridges between sectors, offering safety testing, compliance support, benchmarking and sector-specific validation. They help transfer new technological developments into areas like agriculture, healthcare, manufacturing and urban services, connecting daily-life challenges with Europe’s growing digital infrastructure. In a moment when sovereign digital initiatives and AI Factories are gaining momentum, TEFs become even more essential. They offer real-world environments where new solutions can be tested, adapted and refined safely and responsibly. A tool developed within an AI Factory, for example, can be trialled in TEF-Health or agrifoodTEF to ensure it meets the needs and values of European users before being introduced in sensitive sectors.
Ultimately, Europe’s ambition for digital sovereignty is changing where technologies are developed and how they are brought into society. For the TEF network, this shift reinforces their central role in bringing trusted and compliant technologies to market. This means that the TEFs are not simply beneficiaries of this transition, but key players in turning Europe’s digital vision into concrete results. CoordinaTef supports this mission by helping connect innovators to the right facilities and services, strengthening European actors and contributing to a shared technological identity.
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