Summary Under the proposed Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA), Poland, like all EU Member States, is legally required to establish Experience and Acceleration Centres for AI (Article 5). These centres would not be created from scratch but would build upon the existing network of European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs). Their primary mandate is to act as regional accelerators for AI and cloud adoption, specifically targeting SMEs, small mid-caps (SMCs), and public sector bodies. Crucially, they would serve as the official conduit for connecting Polish organisations with European cloud and AI providers, directly supporting the Act's goal of reducing dependency on third-country actors. These centres would be integral to Poland's mandatory National Cloud and AI Strategy (Article 7) and would operate as part of a wider EU-wide network to share expertise and compute capacity.

Detail

The Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA), as proposed in COM(2026) 502 final, represents a significant shift in how the EU supports the deployment of digital technologies. While much of the Act focuses on infrastructure sovereignty and procurement rules, Title II establishes a critical support layer: the Cloud and AI Leadership Initiatives. Within this framework, Article 5 creates a specific obligation for Member States to operationalise a network of support hubs known as Experience and Acceleration Centres for AI ("Centres for AI").

For Poland, this means a statutory requirement to restructure or repurpose its current digital innovation infrastructure to meet new, specific EU-wide objectives.

The Legal Basis: Article 5 and the EDIH Legacy

Article 5(1) of the proposal is explicit: "Each Member State shall establish Experience and Acceleration Centres for AI ('Centres for AI'). Those Centres for AI shall build on the European digital innovation hubs established under Article 16 of Regulation (EU) 2021/694 and, where applicable, any successor entities established under Union law."

This provision ensures continuity and efficiency. Poland would not need to build a parallel bureaucracy. Instead, the existing EDIHsβ€”already established in Poland to support digital transformationβ€”would be formally designated or evolved into "Centres for AI" to fulfill the specific mandates of CADA. This approach leverages existing expertise, physical locations, and stakeholder relationships while aligning them with the new sovereignty and adoption goals of the Act.

Core Objectives: Who Do They Serve?

The proposal defines the scope of these centres with precision, ensuring they serve the actors most in need of support: SMEs, SMCs, and public sector bodies.

According to Article 5(2), the objectives of the Centres are:

  1. Integration and Scaling: To support the integration and scaling-up of AI use cases in strategic industrial and public sectors.
  2. Broad Adoption: To accelerate the broad adoption of cloud and AI technologies at regional and local levels. The text explicitly notes this is "notably for SMEs, SMCs and public sector bodies," in line with the "AI first" principle.
  3. Infrastructure Leverage: To leverage relevant infrastructure to accelerate the development and fine-tuning of AI models and systems.

This focus on SMEs and SMCs (small mid-caps) is strategic. These entities often lack the internal resources to navigate complex AI markets or to invest in high-performance computing. By centralising support, the Centres would lower the barrier to entry for these smaller players.

Key Tasks: Connecting Poland to European Providers

Perhaps the most significant operational task for the Polish Centres is defined in Article 5(3)(a). The Centres are tasked with:

"helping organisations accelerate their digital transformation through access to and use of AI technologies, including by connecting organisations with European providers of cloud and AI technologies."

This is a direct mechanism to operationalise CADA's sovereignty goals. By acting as a trusted intermediary, the Centres would guide Polish public bodies and businesses away from non-EU hyperscalers and toward providers that can meet the Union assurance levels (Article 16) required for public procurement.

Other critical tasks under Article 5(3) include:

  • Upskilling: Ensuring or providing access to upskilling and reskilling schemes, in close collaboration with the AI Skills Academy.
  • Expertise Transfer: Facilitating the transfer of expertise across regions, ensuring that knowledge is not siloed in major cities like Warsaw but reaches regional hubs.
  • Start-up Support: Supporting the scaling-up of spin-offs and start-ups emerging from universities and incubators by facilitating access to clients and organisations seeking specialised AI services.

Governance: Autonomy within a Network

While the establishment is mandatory, the proposal grants significant operational freedom to ensure these centres can adapt to local Polish contexts. Article 5(5) states that Centres for AI "shall have substantial overall autonomy as regards their organisation, composition and working methods," provided they comply with the Regulation's objectives.

However, they would not operate in isolation. Article 5(6) mandates the establishment of a network of Centres for AI across the EU. This network would:

  • Support collaboration and the exchange of best practices among Centres.
  • Provide specialised services across regions where required skills or compute capacity are not available locally.

For Poland, this means a centre in a smaller region could access high-level expertise or compute resources from a partner centre in another Member State, ensuring that geographic location does not limit access to the EU's AI ecosystem.

The Link to Poland's National Strategy

The establishment of these Centres is not an isolated requirement; it is a cornerstone of Poland's broader obligations under CADA. Article 7 requires every Member State to adopt a National Cloud and AI Strategy within one year of the Regulation's entry into force.

Article 7(2)(b) explicitly mandates that these national strategies must include:

"measures to accelerate the development and adoption of cloud and AI at national, regional and local level... including by supporting the Centres for AI referred to in Article 5 as entry points to the European AI innovation ecosystem."

Therefore, the Polish government's strategy document would need to detail:

  • How the existing EDIH network will be transitioned into Centres for AI.
  • Funding mechanisms to support their operations.
  • How they will be integrated into the national procurement and adoption roadmap.

This creates a feedback loop: the Centres drive adoption, while the National Strategy provides the policy and financial framework to sustain them.

What this means for you

For stakeholders in Polandβ€”whether public officials, SME owners, or technology providersβ€”the establishment of Experience and Acceleration Centres for AI represents a tangible shift in how support is delivered.

1. For Public Sector Bodies and Procurement Officers

As public bodies in Poland are required to procure cloud services that meet specific Union assurance levels (Article 30), identifying compliant European providers can be technically and legally complex. The Centres for AI would serve as a primary resource for this task.

  • Vendor Identification: Procurement officers could use the Centres to identify and vet European providers that have been recognised under Article 17.
  • Compliance Guidance: The Centres would help interpret the sovereignty requirements, ensuring that public procurement decisions align with CADA's risk assessment obligations (Article 29).
  • Training: Public bodies could leverage the Centres' upskilling mandates to train staff on the new procurement rules and the technical requirements of sovereign cloud services.

2. For SMEs and SMCs

Polish small and medium-sized enterprises often struggle with the high costs of AI adoption and the complexity of accessing high-performance computing.

  • Access to Infrastructure: Through the Centres, SMEs could gain access to the "relevant infrastructure" mentioned in Article 5(2)(c) for testing and fine-tuning models, potentially at reduced costs.
  • Market Access: The Centres would actively connect SMEs with European providers, helping them find partners that understand their specific needs and can offer sovereign-compliant solutions.
  • Talent Development: The collaboration with the AI Skills Academy means SMEs could access targeted training programmes to upskill their workforce, addressing the talent gap that often hinders digital transformation.

3. For Regional Authorities

The networked nature of the Centres (Article 5(6)) ensures that regional authorities in Poland are not left behind. Even if a specific region lacks deep AI expertise locally, the network would facilitate the transfer of knowledge and resources from other regions or Member States. This is crucial for ensuring that the benefits of CADA are distributed evenly across the country, preventing a "digital divide" between major urban centres and rural areas.

4. For Start-ups and Innovators

The Centres would act as a bridge between the academic/research sector and the market. By facilitating access to clients and organisations seeking specialised services (Article 5(3)(d)), they would help Polish spin-offs and start-ups scale their solutions. This is particularly relevant for the "grand challenges" outlined in Annex I of CADA, where innovative solutions in frontier AI, physical AI, and industrial AI are needed.

Common misconceptions

"These Centres will be new government agencies created from scratch."

  • Reality: Article 5(1) is clear: they must build on the existing European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs). Poland will likely repurpose its current EDIH network rather than creating a parallel bureaucracy. This ensures efficiency and leverages existing expertise.

"They are only for large corporations or the tech sector."

  • Reality: The proposal explicitly targets SMEs, SMCs, and public sector bodies (Article 5(2)(b)). The "AI first" principle is designed to broaden adoption across all sizes of organisations, ensuring that smaller players are not left behind in the AI transition.

"They are just technical testing labs."

  • Reality: While they do leverage infrastructure for model fine-tuning (Article 5(2)(c)), their role is much broader. They are ecosystem accelerators responsible for skills development, expertise transfer, market access (connecting to providers), and scaling start-ups. They are hubs for business transformation, not just technical sandboxes.

"They operate in isolation within Poland."

  • Reality: Article 5(6) establishes a network of Centres for AI across the EU. This network is designed to exchange best practices and provide services across regions. A Polish centre could access expertise or compute capacity from a partner centre in Germany or France, ensuring that knowledge and resources are shared across the Union.

"They are optional for Poland."

  • Reality: Article 5(1) states that "Each Member State shall establish" these Centres. This is a mandatory obligation, not a voluntary initiative. Poland must integrate them into its National Cloud and AI Strategy (Article 7) and ensure they are operational to meet the Act's objectives.

Related

This is general information about a draft EU regulation, not legal advice.