NEWS
European companies have accelerated their AI readiness over the past six months, narrowing the gap with North American rivals, although the region still trails overall, according to Accenture’ s inaugural AI Progress Barometer.
Europe narrows AI readiness gap with North America as smaller firms risk falling behind
The study assessed nearly 3,000 of the world’ s largest companies, measuring AI readiness through data quality, workforce skills, technology foundations and business processes. Scores ranged from 0 to 100, with higher ratings reflecting stronger AI capabilities.
European businesses increased their average AI readiness score by 1.6 points, compared with a 1.1-point improvement in North America. Despite the stronger momentum, North American companies maintained a higher average score of 48.9, while Europe reached 43.1.
The research highlighted a widening divide between Europe’ s largest and smaller businesses. Companies generating more than US $ 10 billion in annual revenue trailed North American counterparts by just 2.1 points, while smaller firms lagged by 7.6 points, raising concerns over long-term competitiveness.
Accenture said Europe’ s biggest organisations were increasingly embracing enterprise-wide AI transformation through stronger governance, leadership engagement, modernised data platforms and redesigned operating models.
France, the United Kingdom and Spain recorded the strongest improvements in AI readiness. Insurance, travel and consumer goods posted the fastest sector gains – with insurers leading through extensive process modernisation and data improvements.
Accenture said European organisations were shifting from AI experimentation to large-scale deployment by redesigning workflows, improving data quality and equipping employees with the skills needed to support long-term AI-driven growth and innovation.
QuiX Quantum unveils Carina universal photonic quantum computing platform for commercial data centres
QuiX Quantum has unveiled Carina, which it describes as the world’ s first universal photonic quantum computing architecture designed for commercial deployment in customer data centre environments.
Developed through the German Aerospace Center’ s Quantum Computing Initiative( DLR QCI) and funded by Germany’ s Federal Minister of Research, Technology and
Space, Carina is designed as a compact, room-temperature platform that integrates with high-performance computing, AI and existing data centre infrastructure.
Unlike earlier photonic systems focused on specialised computational models, Carina supports a universal gate set capable of running any gate-based quantum algorithm. The architecture combines single-photon generation, multiplexing, state generation, measurement, photonic assembly control and fast feed-forward control within a single integrated platform.
QuiX said the system provides the physical qubit foundation for its next-generation Dedalo architecture, supporting the longterm transition towards logical qubits and fault-tolerant quantum computing.
Professor Gerard J. Milburn of the University of Queensland described Carina as a significant engineering milestone that demonstrated integrated photonics could move universal photonic quantum computing beyond laboratory research and towards scalable commercial deployment.
Professor Andrew G. White said Carina combined on-chip cluster state generation with integrated photon generation, detection, real-time feed-forward and control electronics in a platform designed for end users.
CEO Dr Stefan Hengesbach said Carina bridged the gap between commercially deployable quantum systems and architectures capable of delivering universal fault-tolerant computing, while chief commercial officer Robin Wittland said the platform had been engineered as a complete, scalable system for customer installations rather than experimental laboratories. www. intelligentcio. com
INTELLIGENT CIO EUROPE
9