Accenture (NYSE: ACN) indicated that European companies are picking up speed in building the foundations needed to scale artificial intelligence, narrowing the preparedness gap with North American peers over the past six months. However, a widening split between the continent’s largest corporations and its smaller businesses could limit how far and how fast the region advances overall, according to Accenture’s inaugural AI Progress Barometer.
The barometer tracks AI readiness across roughly 3,000 of the world’s biggest companies.
It measures the core capabilities organizations need to move beyond experiments and capture real value from AI investments.
These include high-quality data foundations, access to skilled talent, and a strategic focus on using AI for growth and innovation rather than simply cutting costs.
Scores are calculated on a 100-point scale and compared across regions and company sizes, using late 2025 as the baseline for changes observed through the first half of 2026.
In that period, European firms improved their average readiness score by 1.6 points.
This outperformed North America’s 1.1-point gain and APAC’s smaller 0.2-point increase.
Despite the stronger recent progress, North American companies still lead overall with an average score of 48.9, compared with 43.1 for European organizations.
The picture becomes clearer when broken down by company size.
Europe’s largest businesses — those with annual revenues above $10 billion — scored 47.4 on average, sitting just 2.1 points behind comparable North American firms at 49.5.
In sharp contrast, smaller European companies recorded an average of 40.5, trailing similar-sized North American peers (48.1) by a much larger 7.6 points.
This growing disparity, sometimes described as the “long tail” of less-prepared smaller firms, raises concerns about Europe’s long-term competitiveness. Large European organizations appear to be shifting from initial testing phases toward broader, enterprise-wide AI deployment.
Yet the report indicates that sustained regional progress will depend heavily on smaller businesses accelerating their own investments in data infrastructure, technology platforms, workforce development, and process changes.
Progress across Europe is also uneven, with some countries and sectors advancing more quickly than others.
The findings highlight that without deliberate efforts to close these internal gaps, parts of the European economy risk being left behind in the global AI race.
Smaller firms, which make up a significant portion of the business landscape, may struggle to realize the productivity improvements and growth opportunities that AI can deliver.
Accenture’s analysis suggests that bridging the divide will require coordinated action — from larger companies sharing expertise and resources, to targeted support that helps smaller organizations build the necessary foundations.
The barometer’s first edition provides an early signal of positive momentum, but it also serves as a clear warning that uneven adoption could undermine Europe’s collective gains if left unaddressed.
Accenture has concluded that as the technology continues to evolve in 2026, the coming months and the next update of the barometer will show whether Europe can maintain its recent pace while ensuring broader participation across companies of all sizes.