Sectorial AI Testing and Experimentation Facilities under the Digital Europe Programme

Together with Member States, the Commission is co-funding the TEFs to support AI developers to bring trustworthy AI to the market more efficiently, and facilitate its uptake in Europe. TEFs are specialised large-scale reference sites open to all technology providers across Europe to test and experiment at scale state-of-the art AI solutions, including both soft-and hardware products and services, e.g. robots, in real-world environments.

TEFs combine physical and virtual facilities in which technology providers receive technical support to test their latest AI-based software and hardware technologies in real-world environments, at Technology Readiness Levels 6 to 8. This includes support for integration, testing, experimentation, validation and demonstration in a given application sector

TEFs can also contribute to the implementation of the AI Act by supporting regulatory sandboxes in cooperation with competent national authorities for supervised testing and experimentation. They are part of the broader European AI ecosystem and work in synergy with European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs), AI Factories, AI Regulatory Sandboxes, Common European Data Spaces, the AI-on-Demand Platform and other Digital Europe Programme initiatives.

For detailed information on TEF services, experimentation opportunities and operational support, visit the CoordinaTEF platform.

• agrifoodTEF provides specialised testing and validation infrastructure for AI and robotics solutions in agriculture and food systems, supporting innovators from concept to market-ready product.
• TEF-Health supports the clinical validation, safety assessment and regulatory compliance of AI and robotics solutions intended for use in healthcare settings.
• AI-MATTERS offers large-scale testing and experimentation infrastructure for AI-driven solutions in manufacturing and industrial robotics, enabling validation in realistic production environments.
• CitCom.ai provides real-world testing environments for AI solutions targeting smart cities and communities, covering domains such as energy, mobility and urban services.

Co-funding between the European Commission (through the Digital Europe Programme) and the Member States supports the TEFs with budgets between EUR 40 and 60 million euros per project, over 220 million euros in total.