AI on your own terms.

Independent AI research and advisory for Europe's leading organisations.

Lindstead advises boards and technology leaders on the selection, economics, governance and deployment of AI within their own infrastructure.

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The challenge

Control over AI is now a board-level responsibility.

Most organisations adopt AI through services hosted outside their control. Three developments turn that choice into a governance question.

Jurisdiction Under the US CLOUD Act, US providers must disclose data under their control to US authorities on request, wherever in the world that data is stored.
Regulation DORA, NIS2 and the AI Act require organisations to document where critical systems run, who can access them and how they would exit a provider without disruption.
Cost Usage-based pricing rises in line with adoption. At sustained volume, dedicated infrastructure can cost less than external APIs, with more predictable spend.

Our approach

Independence Lindstead accepts no commissions from vendors, cloud providers or model developers.
Evidence Recommendations are grounded in published data and transparent cost models.
European focus Our work is built around EU regulation, European providers and European languages.
Delivery Engagements extend from board-level strategy to production deployment.

Our services

End-to-end support, from strategy to implementation.

AI strategy Define which workloads require in-house deployment and which remain suited to external APIs, with a clear board recommendation. Learn more Model selection Identify the models best suited to each use case, assessed on performance, language coverage, licensing terms and provenance. Learn more Infrastructure and cost Quantify the total cost of ownership of in-house AI against current API expenditure, including hardware, energy and staffing. Learn more Regulation and risk Map data flows, access rights and the resulting obligations under the AI Act, GDPR, DORA and NIS2 across the organisation. Learn more Deployment Deliver a production-grade first use case on your own infrastructure, with the security and quality controls auditors expect. Learn more Model stewardship Continuously assess new model releases and regulatory developments against your established baseline, and advise on upgrades. Learn more

Industries

Serving organisations in regulated industries.

Exhibit 1

AI use keeps climbing. Where it runs is the open question.

AI use in German companies nearly tripled in two years. More than half of large EU firms use it today.

Two thirds of German AI users name data protection as a concern.

Enterprise AI use keeps climbing across Europe.

Share of companies using AI, %

EU, all enterprises¹ EU, large enterprises² Germany³

¹ Enterprises with 10 or more employees, EU-27. ² Enterprises with 250 or more employees, EU-27; 2024 and 2026 figures not shown. ³ Companies with 20 or more employees; survey of 603 firms, 2026. Samples differ and are not directly comparable; Eurostat 2026 data not yet published.

Source: Eurostat, December 2025; Bitkom, 14 September 2026

Lindstead

Exhibit 2