European startups are facing stiff competition from the US and China, according to Meta. To help them compete, Meta announced a new open-source AI program on Monday.
“We are facing a real problem in Europe,” said Nick Clegg, Meta’s Head of International Affairs. “The United States and China are overtaking us very quickly.”
For too long, Europe has been seen as a regulator, while China copies and the US innovates, according to Clegg. This new program aims to change that by fostering innovation and collaboration between startups and tech giants.
Meta is partnering with Skyway, a cloud computing company, and Hugging Face, a platform for AI models, to support five European startups from September 2024 to February 2025. These startups will get help from Meta’s AI research lab, access to Hugging Face’s platform, and computing power from Skyway.
This initiative is designed to create a synergy between large tech firms and startups, boosting innovation and entrepreneurship in Europe.
