The Bridge | Ep. 1: Can Europe Power Its Way Back into the AI Race?

The AI race in Europe will be decided on the power grid as much as in the lab. Building a data center takes about two years, but connecting it to the grid can take seven. Electricity costs roughly twice as much as in the US and more than half again as much as in China. And only one in five European firms uses AI across its operations.

In the first episode of The Bridge, the new podcast from the Center for the Study of Democracy, Nadejda Gantcheva and Martin Vladimirov look at the two AI problems Europe faces. The first is production: models, compute and the energy to run them. The second is adoption: getting European companies, most of them SMEs, to actually use AI. The conversation covers the State of the Union address, the Draghi report, why low-carbon power attracts hyperscalers, the grid implementation gap, a “just AI transition,” and what Brussels should do next.

Host: Nadejda Gantcheva, Senior Analyst, Energy and Climate Program, Center for the Study of Democracy

Guest: Martin Vladimirov, Director, Energy and Climate Program, Center for the Study of Democracy

YouTube: https://youtu.be/B1hExfWD38E

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3OY2TnoPaqWcUvJbYaRfXo

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bridge-by-csd/id6824949184

CSD website: csd.eu

Martin Vladimirov’s analysis in Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/commentary/reuters-open-interest/europe-has-no-hope-ai-race-without-unified-energy-market-martin-vladimirov-2026-09-16/

Produced by the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD)

Recorded at the CSD podcast studio, Sofia

Editing: Penu Kiratzov, PhD, Communications Department, CSD

Music: Canva

New episodes every month.