EU surveyed multiple companies about the use of AI and there’s interesting data out there. I recently saw it, so I thought it might’ve gone unnoticed for many, hence I am writing about it.

Quick note - all companies surveyed in the study were 10+ employees.

High level data in EU

In 2023, 8% of companies in EU used AI Technology. 30.4% of large companies (250+ FTEs), 13% of medium companies (50-249 FTEs) and 6.4% of small companies (10-49) declared the usage of AI.

What’s surprising - the previous report in 2021 showed 7.6% of companies in EU were using AI. That’s only 0.4% increase! In the case of Denmark - the usage even decreased from 24% to 15%.

That’s weird. ChatGPT was launched in 2022 and all AI hype accelerated after. But according to the research, adoption did not change much in reality.

But now let’s look at the countries in Eastern Europe:

Highlights:

•Slovenia, Croatia and Slovakia are leading in the region. Only Slovenia is above EU average;
•Romania and Serbia are adopting the slowest;
•Average adoption in Eastern Europe is 5%, while the average in EU is 8%.

I like maps, so I created one for better visualization of the region. The greener, the greater % of companies use AI in those countries.

Opportunities

Well, it seems like Eastern Europe is lagging behind compared to EU. However, EU also lags behind US. Different sources show that in the US, adoption is at +50% among companies. That’s a huge gap! But gaps = opportunities, right?

It is also important to highlight that large companies are at the forefront of adoption. European wide, 30% of large companies (250+ FTEs) have adopted the technology.

Based on this data, AI startups have to go after clients outside the region and aim for large companies in order to have fast results. However, there’s also an opportunity in taking advantage of the blue ocean in the region.