On the 22nd–23rd of June 2026, the GRAIL consortium gathered in Barcelona for its Kick-off Meeting, marking the formal launch of a major European initiative to develop sovereign and trustworthy Generative AI technologies for industrial robotics.
Hosted by Eurecat Technology Centre, coordinator of the project, the two-day meeting took place at the Casa Convalescència in Barcelona and brought together the GRAIL partners to align on the project’s vision, priorities and roadmap for the coming years.
The meeting opened with institutional welcome messages from Eurecat and representatives of the Government of Spain, followed by a session on European Commission priorities with Cécile Huet and the Project Officers, Cem Gulec and Álvaro Cabrejas. The consortium then presented the overall vision of GRAIL and began a series of working sessions aimed at aligning the technical, industrial and impact-related activities of the project.
A shared vision for the future of European robotics
GRAIL is a Horizon Europe initiative with more than €40 million in funding, coordinated by Eurecat. Its ambition is to develop a European general-purpose foundation model for robotics capable of supporting more flexible, autonomous, trustworthy and human-aligned robotic systems.
The technology will be validated in five strategic industrial sectors including automotive, aerospace, intralogistics, steel and electronics across different robotic embodiments, including industrial and collaborative arms and humanoid platforms.
Beyond the technological development itself, GRAIL aims to strengthen Europe’s industrial and technological sovereignty by creating AI capabilities specifically designed for robotics and European manufacturing needs.
From project vision to collaborative implementation
A central objective of the Kick-off Meeting was to turn this shared vision into a coordinated programme of work.Throughout the two days, partners took part in technical workshops, plenary discussions and collaborative sessions covering the main components of the project, its industrial use cases, shared resources and the integration of the different technologies that will be developed across the consortium.The second day placed particular emphasis on the project’s use cases and collaborative implementation, followed by further technical workshops and plenary discussions.
The agenda also created space to discuss ecosystem engagement, dissemination and connections with other European initiatives, reflecting GRAIL’s ambition to collaborate closely with the wider European AI, Data and Robotics community from the outset.
Networking moments throughout the meeting offered partners an additional opportunity to strengthen relationships and build the collaborative foundations needed for a project of this scale.
A European effort for industrial leadership
GRAIL brings together a multidisciplinary European consortium combining expertise in artificial intelligence, robotics, research, technology development and industrial applications.
Over the coming years, the partners will work together to develop and validate the technologies behind GRAIL, while the project will also expand its reach through three Open Calls, supporting more than 40 additional projects working on data, training and validation in further industrial domains.
The Barcelona Kick-off Meeting marked the beginning of this collective journey and established a common direction for the consortium: advancing trustworthy Generative AI for robotics while strengthening Europe’s competitiveness and technological sovereignty.