Top 10 European IT stories of 2025

1) Swedish welfare authorities suspend ‘discriminatory’ AI model

A “discriminatory” artificial intelligence model used by Sweden’s social security agency to flag people for benefit fraud investigations was suspended this year, following an intervention by the country’s Data Protection Authority.

Starting in June 2025, IMY’s involvement was prompted after a joint investigation from Lighthouse Reports and Svenska Dagbladet revealed in November 2024 that a machine learning system being used by Försäkringskassan, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, was disproportionally and wrongly flagging certain groups for further investigation over social benefits fraud.

This included women, individuals with “foreign” backgrounds, low-income earners and people without university degrees.

2) EU regulation sharpens fear of Norwegian AI exodus

A flight of artificial intelligence firms from Norway is being accelerated by fear of the government’s decision to adopt controversial European AI laws.

While pressure mounts on the European Commission to halt stringent rules governing “high-risk” AI systems, Norway is proceeding with plans to implement the AI laws in a hurry.

The government declared its purpose to keep Norway’s statute compatible with European Union (EU) law, a principle of the EEA agreement by which companies from Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein have access to the European single market.

3) France is committed to AI, says president Macron

French president Emmanuel Macron wants Europe to take a leading role in the development of AI.

He welcomed a partnership between French AI startup Mistral AI and AI chip giant Nvidia, which will see Mistral AI create a cloud platform, dubbed Mistral Compute. It aims to rival those from other cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, presenting a European option for the first time.

Macron said it would create a historical shift, calling it “our fight for sovereignty, for strategic autonomy”.

4) Santander will make AI training mandatory for all staff in 2026

Banco Santander will introduce a mandatory AI training programme for all its staff in 2026, as part of its plan to make the technology part of its DNA.

The Spanish bank is accelerating its use of AI after it made more than €200m in cost savings last year.

As well as the mandatory AI training plan for all employees, which will begin next year and includes teaching responsible AI use, the bank is offering training to its development, marketing and frontline staff, including through workshops and hackathons.

5) Dutch university’s rapid response saved it from ransomware devastation

Eindhoven University of Technology demonstrated the uncomfortable truth that even organisations that tick all the cyber security boxes can fall victim to sophisticated attacks when attackers gained enterprise-level access to its network and began preparing what forensic investigators later concluded would have been a devastating ransomware attack. 

The university’s response was dramatic: it disconnected all 14,000 students and 4,700 staff from the internet for an entire week. That decision, taken within hours of detecting the breach, prevented what could have been months of crippled operations and millions in ransom demands. 

6) Western coalition supplying tech to Ukraine prepared for long war

A coalition of countries has provided Ukraine with more than €1.3bn of telecommunications, information technology and other high-tech equipment since Russia began the deadliest conflict in Europe since the Second World War.

Although the amount may be small compared with Ukraine’s military budget, the equipment, provided with the support of western governments and companies, has been critical to allow Ukraine’s government and institutions to continue functioning under Russian attack.

7) Dutch researchers use heartbeat detection to unmask deepfakes

The race between deepfake creators and detectors has entered a new phase, with researchers from the Netherlands revealing tech that reads the human heartbeat through video analysis. 

While AI generates increasingly convincing deepfake videos, forensic researchers are responding by building an ever-expanding toolkit of detection methods.

Detecting Deepfakes requires multiple approaches working in concert, with no single method providing definitive proof.

8) German healthcare aims to replace faxes and phones with secure messaging

Germany’s healthcare system has begun a programme that aims to improve communication and decision-making by replacing faxes, phone calls and voicemails with encrypted messaging services.

The project, which is being overseen by Germany’s National Digital Health Agency, Gematik, promises a highly secure alternative to WhatsApp that will allow patients, healthcare professionals and insurance companies to coordinate medical treatment.

Initial trials have shown that the service has led to significant time savings for medical staff by freeing them from making repeated phone calls.

9) Norway’s autonomous bus moves into the fast lane

Since May 2022, a semi-autonomous bus, operating with one of the highest levels of autonomy globally, has been offering public transportation services in the coastal municipality of Stavanger. The project is demonstrating how autonomous vehicles can successfully operate in complex urban environments. 

Unlike simpler autonomous vehicle trials that stick to controlled or isolated environments, Stavanger’s autonomous bus drives through the city centre, weaving through roundabouts, narrow streets and a mix of pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles. It’s a real-world proving ground for autonomous mobility, showing that the technology can operate effectively in everyday traffic scenarios. 

10) Dutch voters grasp digital urgency better than their politicians

As the dust settled on a historically close-run Dutch election, a remarkable trend emerged. While party leaders were focused on traditional campaign issues, voters used their ballots to send a clear message: digital competence in Parliament is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s a necessity. This grassroots movement, spurred on by initiatives such as NerdVote, successfully propelled tech-savvy candidates into Parliament, despite their low positions on the party lists. 

While the centrist-liberal D66 party and Geert Wilders’ far-right PVV were locked in a dead heat for first place, the real story for the tech sector happened further down the ballot.