Consolidation of the Network of European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs with reinforced AI focus)

Each hub delivers all four core EDIH services — test-before-invest access to technical expertise and experimentation facilities, training and upskilling, help finding financing, and networking within an innovation ecosystem — mainly to SMEs, mid-caps and public bodies carrying out non-economic activities, though the weight given to each service can vary by hub. Hubs must act as a first-line AI help desk, including basic AI Act compliance information, refer clients on to AI Factories, the AI-on-Demand Platform and Testing and Experimentation Facilities without needing to include a representative of those infrastructures in their own consortium, and help SMEs get access to EuroHPC AI-optimised supercomputers and fine-tune AI solutions to their needs. Hubs must track and report defined performance indicators — clients served by category and technology, referrals to AI infrastructures, investment triggered, and joint activity with other EDIHs — and must design their operations for sustainability beyond the funded period.