What a national artificial intelligence strategy for Romania should contain

Although the country already has an AI strategy, it is set to expire in less than a year without the implementation having advanced significantly. Building on the Edge Institute’s call ‘Two steps, five steps to be taken’ and the European framework – the European Commission’s AI Act and AI Continent Action Plan – it is worth clarifying what a national AI strategy that does not remain on paper should actually contain.

Context: from vision to delivery

The 2026 OECD diagnosis places Romania among the countries that have strategies but are lost “in terms of implementation, monitoring, iteration and direction correction”. Moreover, the OECD includes Romania among the countries without an institution designated for the implementation of the AI strategy – given that 83% of OECD states have at least one body responsible for governing the use of AI in the public sector. When integrating AI into proactive public services, Romania scores 0.06 out of 1, compared to an OECD average of 0.67.

At European level, the direction is clear. The AI Continent Action Plan, adopted by the European Commission on 9 April 2025, structures the EU’s ambition around five pillars: computing power and infrastructure, data for AI, innovation and strategic adoption, skills and talent, and regulatory simplification. Added to this is the AI Act – the world’s first comprehensive legal framework on AI – and a multi-level governance model with national authorities coordinated at European level. A coherent national strategy must be anchored in these benchmarks.

The main components of a national AI strategy

The Edge Institute call translates this agenda into concrete steps, applicable in Romania. Summarized, the essential elements of a national AI strategy are:

• Integrated governance, not parallel. AI must not be managed through a separate structure, but as part of the same digital transformation mandate – the ideal being a Deputy Prime Minister for Digital Transformation and a governmental IOC with a role of professional continuity.
• A Digital Council with binding decisions. An inter-ministerial body that adopts executive and binding decisions, with regular meetings and a predictable timetable, supported by the legislation necessary for operationalisation.
• An institution responsible for implementation. A designated authority – e.g. a reformed and empowered Authority for the Digitalisation of Romania – with competences on the operational side of AI use in administration, following the French model.
• Internal capacity of the state. Specialists capable of defining architectures and standards, drawing up specifications, supervising technical reception and maintaining systems – functions which, over-outsourced, lead to ‘institutional abandonment’.
• Guides, procurement and supervision. A mandatory guide to using AI in administration, a framework for public procurement of AI products, pilot programs with public reporting, and a national AI regulatory sandbox.
• AI skills and literacy. A national AI literacy programme in public administration and investment in the skills of officials, a precondition for responsible supervision of technology.
• Anchor projects such as the European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDIW). Dedicated teams with a single leader and a clear mandate as the first practical demonstration of the new delivery model.
• Compliance with EU obligations. Applying the AI Act, operationalising supervisory authorities and complying with European deadlines, as a mandatory minimum threshold.

What it means for Romania

A national AI strategy is not an image document, but the institutional infrastructure that decides whether investments, skills and regulation reinforce each other or remain islands. For the digital skills ecosystem, the practical priority is twofold: on the one hand, building the internal capacity of the state to understand and manage technology; on the other hand, a systematic AI literacy effort, from administration to citizen. Without these foundations, the public ambition for AI remains disconnected from the reality on the ground.

Source and links

This article builds on the Edge Institute’s call ‘Two steps, five steps to be taken’ – Romania’s second call for digital transformation, and anchors it in the European Union’s policy framework on artificial intelligence (AI Act and the European Commission’s AI Continent Action Plan).

• Edge Institute – ‘Two steps taken, five steps to be taken’ (call, 2026): papers.edgeinstitute.ro
• European Commission – AI Continent Action Plan, COM(2025)165: digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu
• European Commission – AI Act: digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu
• Edge Institute – OECD synthesis & European Commission (24 June 2026): edgeinstitute.ro