AI For The Mind: How Europe Can Lead The Next Wave Of Brain-Health Innovation

Brain disorders affect around 165 million people in Europe and cost an estimated €800 billion annually in healthcare, social care, and lost productivity. Yet debates about Europe’s competitiveness, strategic autonomy, and AI leadership often overlook brain health—the very foundation of economic productivity and innovation. As global leadership in AI-enabled life sciences accelerates, Europe cannot afford to move slowly in one of its most complex and high-impact disease areas. Using AI to improve brain health is not a side issue; it is central to protecting Europe’s human capital and future growth.

As Emre Ozcan, Senior Vice-President of Digital Health & Devices at Merck Healthcare, notes, Europe’s strength lies not only in its universities, research institutes, skilled workforce, and universal health systems, but increasingly in the data those systems generate. Well-governed sharing of neurological and rare-disease data could become a powerful common asset. National registries such as Italy’s Multiple Sclerosis Register and EU initiatives like DARWIN EU already demonstrate how linking real-world data can deepen understanding of disease pathways and treatment effectiveness. The next step is unifying these efforts under an EU-led framework, where the European Health Data Space (EHDS) enables reuse of clinical records and registries at scale—provided trust, governance, and data quality are addressed alongside technology.

With stronger data foundations, AI can reshape the entire brain-health innovation lifecycle. In research, it can integrate imaging, genomics, and clinical data to identify new targets and define patient subgroups more precisely. In development, better-connected data can enable more efficient clinical trials by improving site selection, accelerating recruitment, and reducing unnecessary procedures. Reuse of high-quality existing data supports innovative trial designs and earlier dialogue with regulators. Once therapies reach patients, AI can link trial results with real-world evidence and patient-reported outcomes, continuously refining interventions so they deliver value in everyday care—not just in controlled studies.

Europe already has many of the necessary building blocks, from the Innovative Health Initiative and testing facilities like TEF-Health to strong university hospitals and emerging AI and data-lab projects. The challenge is coordination. Clear, predictable governance—through instruments like the AI Act, the Biotech Act, and evolving EMA guidance—can reduce fragmentation if regulators engage early as partners rather than gatekeepers. At the same time, ambition must be matched with sustained funding. AI-ready data infrastructures and long-term cohorts cannot rely on short-term pilots; upcoming EU financial frameworks will determine whether brain health is treated as a strategic priority.

If Europe invests in trust, shared data infrastructure, and responsible AI deployment, “AI for the mind” can become part of the EU’s next integration story—strengthening competitiveness, attracting life-science investment, and improving the lives of millions living with brain disorders across all Member States.