The project can fail, you are correct, but it does not take anything from any other projects, it is just an other initiative trying to contribute in the space.
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.
Taxes are taking from funds for personal projects, and universities already get a lot of funding in Europe to do research, maybe they should focus on creating a better environment for students to become researchers or entrepreneurs instead.
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
I’m just skeptical if the EU bureaucrats will put the money in the right place, and if this is even the right approach.