GenAI4EU Sets Course for EU Healthcare AI

Horizon Europe calls worth about €50mn back multimodal systems built to meet EU AI Act standards 

13 Feb 2026

The European Union is sharpening its healthcare artificial intelligence strategy through GenAI4EU, a flagship initiative under Horizon Europe that could allocate about €50mn to health-focused projects in 2025.

Rather than operating as a single fund, GenAI4EU spans several sectors. In healthcare, multiple calls including those under HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01 invite large cross-border consortia to develop generative and multimodal AI systems for clinical use. Individual projects are expected to receive between €15mn and €17mn, depending on scope.

The calls support systems that combine medical imaging, genomic information, electronic health records and other data streams into advanced clinical decision tools. The aim is to move beyond single-data applications towards integrated models capable of supporting diagnosis and treatment planning.

The programme is taking shape against a shifting regulatory backdrop. Many medical AI systems are likely to fall within the “high-risk” category of the EU AI Act, which imposes obligations on transparency, data governance, human oversight and performance testing. Although GenAI4EU is not a regulatory instrument, its structure reflects these emerging standards.

For applicants, that alters the terms of competition. Proposals are expected to address explainability, clinical validation and pathways to regulatory compliance, in addition to technical performance. Multimodal capability must be paired with safeguards to ensure reliability and reproducibility.

The funding model also encourages collaboration at scale. By requiring multinational and interdisciplinary consortia, the Commission is seeking to strengthen data-sharing frameworks and build common research standards across member states. Embedding regulatory considerations at the research stage is intended to ease later deployment and reduce compliance risk.

Obstacles remain. Cross-border data sharing is complex, and evolving compliance requirements may lengthen development timelines. But policymakers appear to favour a longer-term approach that emphasises trust and system resilience over rapid deployment.

For research institutions and healthcare innovators, the signal is clear: future EU support will favour projects that combine technical ambition with regulatory readiness, positioning compliance as a foundation for market access rather than a barrier to entry.