1.7.1 Increasing regulatory compliance costs Businesses report that, even where adoption is advancing, scaling AI internationally introduces legal complexity, higher compliance costs and operational friction – particularly for firms operating across multiple markets and regulatory environments.
Despite EU’ s simplification efforts, businesses report that this scaling friction is compounded by the broader compliance burden they already face as they navigate regulatory fragmentation:
• Businesses estimate that 44 % of their total tech spend goes toward compliance with national and international regulations( European average: 42 %).
• When asked what makes up this 44 %, almost half( 49 %) cite relationship management with supervisors and responsible government authorities.
• 84 % say compliance costs have increased over the past three years and 81 % expect these costs to rise further over the next three.
1.7.2 Access to a skilled workforce and finance pathways More than half( 55 %) of firms cite AI skills shortages( vs. 45 % EU average) and two in five lack a dedicated AI budget – though the vast majority expect AI’ s share of IT spend to grow within three years.
OF THOSE WHO SAID THEY WOULD CONSIDER LEAVING EUROPE, THE MOST CITED DESTINATIONS ARE THE US( 58 %) AND SINGAPORE( 22 %)
1.7.3 Integration of agentic AI with legacy systems and processes Beyond skills and regulation, another structural barrier is emerging as the most technically-complex challenge for enterprises pursuing agentic AI: integrating autonomous agents with legacy systems, fragmented data architectures and established processes. Three dimensions of this barrier consistently surface across enterprise engagements.
Without a shared AI platform, teams independently rebuild guardrails, RAG pipelines, evaluation frameworks and observability. AI infrastructure teams report spending 30 – 50 % of engineering time on infrastructure rather than value-creating applications 4. Business value cannot be measured or attributed. Productivity gains from AI do not automatically translate into P & L impact. Around a quarter of Nordic businesses cite unclear ROI as a direct
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