TheAI4EU project was formally launched on 1 January 2019, as a pan-EU initiative aimed to create an open and collaborative artificial intelligence (AI) platform to foster economic growth in the EU through the use of AI. The platform will bring together AI resources, including data repositories, computing power, tools and algorithms from 79 research institutes, small and medium-sized enterprises, and large enterprises in 21 EU countries. It will also provide services (including up-skilling and re-skilling courses) to assist potential users (small businesses, non-technical companies, and public entities) in testing and deploying AI technologies in their processes, products, and services. The project, which will receive total EU funding of 20 million EUR in the next three years, will focus on five research areas dedicated to promoting human-centred AI which is explainable, verifiable, collaborative, integrative and physical.