I’m just skeptical if the EU bureaucrats will put the money in the right place, and if this is even the right approach.
Parent commenter own search project Marginalia Search [1] could even benefit from it, or even maybe collaborate with it.
It is not a winner-take-all situation, and we need various open initiative in this space to get out of the current conundrum we are in with Google stronghold on search.
Overall I think there are better ways to improve search from an EU perspective by doing what they are supposed to be doing:
- create a fair environment for companies to compete in, e.g., take a look how Google, Apple or Meta's assets are set up to make it harder for competitors, break that up
- improve standards in eduction – it doesn't really make sense for all member countries to think of and maintain a good CS curriculum and they all seem to be pretty bad at it
- make it easier to build something and get funded, and reward creating prosperity, don't tax it to death
Just tested marginalia's random mode btw. Pretty cool, reminds me of the internet when I was a kid
(edit: formatting)