Open-source AI is rapidly transforming how artificial intelligence is built and deployed—offering transparency, adaptability, and sovereignty at a moment when these capabilities matter more than ever. A new report, The Open-Source AI Landscape, developed under the StepUp Startups project , maps this fast-growing ecosystem and examines Europe’s position within it. The study reveals strong scientific foundations and collaborative strengths across Europe, but also highlights critical gaps in compute access, funding, and scaling capacity. As global competition intensifies, open-source AI offers Europe a realistic and strategic path to strengthen its competitiveness, accelerate adoption, and build trustworthy, innovation-ready AI systems for industry and society.