Fast-Track to AI Act Compliance: How regulatory sandboxes help you reach the market
About the event
After the Digital Omnibus on AI amended the AI Act, each Member State now has until 2 August 2027 to have at least one AI regulatory sandbox in operation, one year later than first planned. The Omnibus also allows the AI Office to set up an EU-level sandbox, and extends priority access to small mid-caps as well as SMEs and startups. EUSAiR, funded by the Digital Europe Programme, supports EU-level coordination of these sandboxes. It has tested sandbox procedures in pilots with more than 80 AI providers.
The results of the pilots were presented at the EUSAiR final event in Bologna on 30 October 2026. Many small companies still don’t know what a sandbox is, or what it can do for them. This workshop puts the pilot learnings in front of those companies.
Aim
The workshop shows SMEs and startups the tangible benefits of AI regulatory sandboxes and how to take part in one. Participants will learn:
- What a sandbox is and how it fits into the wider AI Act ecosystem
- What they gain: legal certainty, a faster route to market, and an exit report they can use in conformity assessment
- How to apply and prepare a use case, and which pitfalls to avoid
- What companies from the EUSAiR pilots experienced first-hand
Agenda
14:00 – 14:10
Welcome and opening: Why innovators matter for AI regulatory sandboxes?
- Antonino Rotolo, Professor (UNIBO) and Project Coordinator at EUSAiR
- Filip Agatic, Senior Project Manager (European DIGITAL SME Alliance)
14:10 – 14:20
What are sandboxes? The benefits
- Imane Hmiddou, PhD student (UNIBO)
- Fabio Seferi, PhD candidate (UNIFI)
14:20 – 14:30
The ecosystem explained
- Mahnoor Mahnoor, Junior Machine Learning Specialist (CSC-IT Center for Science)
14:30 – 14:40
How to engage: Rules of engagement and common pitfalls
- Altti Lagstedt, Principal Lecturer (Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences)
14:40 – 15:15
Real-life cases from the EUSAiR pilots
- Lukas Fischer, PhD-Doctor of Philosophy (Medical University of Vienna) and Head of Applied Research (NXAI)
- Andrea Montibeller, Co-Founder & Chief AI Officer (Truebees)
- Cesare Furlanello, Director (LIGHT s.c.ar.l.) and Technology Coordinator at VIPPSTAR project
15:15 – 15:30
Q&A
15:30 – 15:35
Wrap-up and next steps
- Filip Agatic, Senior Project Manager (European DIGITAL SME Alliance)
