The European tech sector’s surprising resurgence can be traced, at least to some extent, to a large investment windfall through artificial intelligence (AI). As a result of this turnabout, tech shares are now among the top performers in this reporting season, led by the financial and healthcare sectors.
SAP SE, Europe’s largest enterprise application software company, has been a major contributor to this growth. SAP deployed €4.71 billion worth of cloud business for the fourth quarter, an improvement of 27% year-on-year and barely higher than had been estimated by the analysts. The corporate move to make artificial intelligence features available in their cloud products has contributed significantly towards that growth and seen them position themselves as an enticing choice for yet more organizations which are searching for groundbreaking technology solutions.
AI innovation is also supporting the wider European technology ecosystem. AI is being used more and more by firms across many industries to enhance productivity and drive innovation. Denmark, for example, has 27.6% of firms implementing AI in their businesses and leads the European company adoption. Sweden and Belgium follow with 25.1% and 24.7%, respectively. This broad adoption is a regional movement towards adopting AI as a growth-driving technology.
But problems persist. Europe lags behind global leaders in AI investment and innovation despite the promising pace. Programs like the EU AI Champions Initiative, which unites more than 60 European organizations to work on initiatives in the areas of technology, industry, finance, and policy in an attempt to catch up, have been initiated. The purpose of these joint activities is to promote Europe’s competitiveness in the global AI market.
Briefly, AI-driven growth is at the core of the surprise revival of the European technology sector. The continent is well-positioned to solidify its status within the global technology landscape as businesses continue to embed AI within their operations and offerings and as cooperative efforts are promoted by amiable initiatives.
