EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities

1. Single Market Access (450+ m consumers)

- Pan-European demand for trustworthy GPAI: The forthcoming AI Act creates a unified compliance market; providers across 27 MS will need validated assessment tools. A project funded under this topic can become the *de-facto EU reference*, instantly addressable to all digital, health, finance, mobility and public-service buyers.

- Public‐sector procurement channels: CEF Digital, DEP Testing & Experimentation Facilities (TEFs) and cross-border GovTech pilots offer immediate routes to deploy results in multiple Member States without duplicate certification.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange

- Mandatory interdisciplinarity (SSH + technical) combined with the RIA format encourages consortia mixing AI labs (e.g. INRIA, TNO, Fraunhofer), ethics centres (e.g. KU Leuven, CNRS), and specialised SMEs from different countries, unlocking complementary datasets, languages and cultural perspectives crucial for bias/risk testing.

- Access to EU research infrastructures such as EuroHPC JU super-computers and the AI-on-Demand Platform facilitates secure sharing of large models and benchmarks across borders.

- Talent circulation via MSCA staff exchanges and Erasmus+ PhD networks can be easily grafted onto the consortium, widening skills and retention.

3. EU Policy Alignment & Strategic Relevance

- AI Act enforcement: The topic explicitly supports the new EU AI Office; projects that deliver practical audit methodologies will be immediately aligned with flagship legislation.

- Digital Europe Programme (DEP) synergy: DEP funds deployment environments where the project’s benchmarks can become mandatory assessment suites, accelerating uptake.

- Open Strategic Autonomy (Cluster 4 Destination 4): Developing EU-owned assessment IP reduces dependence on U.S./Chinese evaluation toolchains.

- Green Deal & Twin Transition: Energy-efficient benchmarking and eco-impact scoring of GPAI models responds to Article 13 of the AI Act (sustainability) and helps green data-centre strategies.

4. Regulatory Harmonisation Benefits

- One EU-wide framework avoids 27 divergent national testing regimes, lowering compliance cost for GPAI developers by up to 30-40 % (Commission impact assessment figures).

- Common KPIs and risk taxonomies make it easier for insurers, auditors and notified bodies to accept cross-border results, accelerating market entry.

5. Innovation Ecosystem Leverage

- ADRA Partnership & GenAI4EU Hub: Built-in cohesion tasks guarantee visibility to 400+ member organisations and quick integration into the EU’s flagship generative-AI sandbox network.

- Living Labs & TEFs (health, manufacturing, smart cities) offer real-world data streams to stress-test emergent capabilities, impossible to replicate at national scale.

- Standardisation pathways via CEN-CENELEC and ETSI are easier to influence with EU-backed results, paving the way for ISO/IEC adoption.

6. Funding Synergies & Leveraging Cascade Mechanisms

- Layered funding: Results can feed into DEP (deployment €180 m), EIC Transition (TRL 5-8 €2.5 m grants), and Cybersecurity Competence Centre calls, creating a full R&D-to-market pipeline.

- Cascade funding (>20 % of budget permissible) enables the consortium to launch open calls for start-ups across the EU, broadening impact and reaching niche risk domains (e.g. CBRN, deep-fake detection).

- Alignment with national Recovery & Resilience Facility AI investments (≈€7 bn) gives co-funding opportunities for piloting.

7. Scale & Impact Potential

- Benchmark once, deploy everywhere principle dramatically speeds scale-up across sectors (finance, health, mobility).

- European Data Spaces (health, manufacturing, public sector) provide ready-made distribution channels for validated assessment suites.

- Possibility to position Europe as the global leader in GPAI safety testing, influencing OECD and G7 Hiroshima Process, opening export markets.

8. Strategic Value Proposition at EU Level

1. Creates a *single, credible yard-stick

• for GPAI capability & risk evaluation, indispensable for AI Act conformity assessments.

2. Strengthens EU technological sovereignty by internalising critical evaluation know-how.

3. Amplifies ROI through synchronised use of multiple EU instruments (Horizon, DEP, EIC, EuroHPC).

4. Delivers a competitive advantage to EU developers and users via reduced compliance friction and faster market access.

5. Serves social cohesion and fundamental-rights protection through uniform, transparent, ethically grounded metrics.

9. Actionable Opportunities for Applicants

- Embed at least 3 Member States + 1 Associated Country to maximise coverage and evaluation points.

- Negotiate MoUs with DEP TEFs and EuroHPC centres before submission to evidence infrastructure access.

- Allocate WP for standardisation liaison (CEN-CLC JTC 21) and policy-uptake workshops with the AI Office.

- Reserve ≥10 % budget for cascade calls targeting SMEs that supply domain-specific risk tests (cyber-bio-security, finance).

- Plan early open-source release under EU-favoured licences (EUPL, Apache 2.0) to satisfy Open Science KPIs and accelerate adoption.

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Bottom Line: Pursuing this RIA at EU level multiplies technical excellence, market reach and regulatory influence beyond what any single Member State can achieve, positioning the consortium—and Europe as a whole—at the forefront of safe, ethical and competitive General Purpose AI.