Aeven’s Post

What’s needed for Europe to shine on the global stage? “A new European #competitiveness deal is needed” says Enrico Letta to 🇪🇺 leaders, today and tomorrow. As we navigate towards a more dynamic Europe on the global stage, it's imperative to include the European tech sector, particularly scale-ups, in our strategic dialogue. Here are their top three priorities: 1️⃣ European Tech for European competitiveness: It's not just about innovation; it's about strategic imperative. Empowering EUTA members for global excellence demands harmonised and consistent EU regulations, applicable across all companies operating in Europe or targeting European consumers. 2️⃣ Smart rules for a stronger Europe: Coherence is key in rule-making. Let's ensure existing regulations are firmly established before introducing new ones. All rules must fit together like pieces of a puzzle. 3️⃣ Better enforcement for fairer competition: Enhancing enforcement is the answer to fair competition, not the proliferation of new regulations. Strong collaboration among enforcing authorities at both EU and Member States’ levels is crucial. Now is the time for action. Let's make it happen and unlock Europe's potential at home and beyond.

🚀“A new European competitiveness deal is needed” 🚀 says Enrico Letta, who prepares a high-level report on the future of the 🇪🇺 Single Market for EU Member States. Today and tomorrow, European leaders convene to discuss Europe's competitiveness. We expect them to call for the strengthening of the EU's leadership in global digital affairs and invite the Commission to prepare a strategy. As we chart a course for a more competitive Europe, it's imperative to spotlight the growing European tech sector, particularly its scale-ups. European tech needs a seat at the table if we are serious about enabling Europe to lead in the digital realm at home and globally. Here are key priorities that European tech businesses advocate for: 1️⃣ Elevating European tech for competitiveness: The success of European tech isn't merely about innovation; it's a strategic necessity. We must empower EUTA members to excel globally. By adopting a harmonised and consistent EU approach, we ensure a level playing field for all companies operating in Europe or targeting European consumers. 2️⃣ Smart rules for a stronger Europe: When creating  new rules, coherence is key. Let's allow existing rules to take root before introducing new ones, ensuring they fit seamlessly together like pieces of a puzzle. A problem-based approach is crucial, tailoring regulations to address specific challenges faced by different tech business models. Let's trim the regulatory fat and prevent an unwieldy pyramid of rules. 3️⃣ Enhanced enforcement for fair competition: Fair competition underpins European growth. We must enforce laws rigorously, maintaining consistency across interpretations and actions. Collaboration is paramount; national authorities, Member States, and the EU must work hand in hand to ensure a level playing field. 👉 Now is the time for decisive action. Let's forge ahead with a clear vision, leveraging the power of technology to unlock Europe's potential at home and beyond.

🇪🇺 Yesterday, the European Parliament approved the new College of Commissioners at the European Commission, set to begin work on December 1, 2024. 🎯 The President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, once again emphasized the importance of boosting European competitiveness through a concept she calls the Competitiveness Compass, which will focus on three main areas: 1) closing the innovation gap with the US and China;  2) developing a joint plan for decarbonization and competitiveness; and  3) enhancing security and reducing dependencies. 🔎 We reviewed the mission letters Ursula von der Leyen previously sent to the Commissioners and analyzed the agenda points relevant to European tech sector for the next five years, focusing on its’ potential impact on: ▪️ European competitiveness ▪️ Consumers ▪️ Innovation ▪️ EU’s Member State public administrations https://lnkd.in/db5rKnPF

📢 Today, the European Parliament will hold a crucial hearing with Commissioner-designate and Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen. ANE has submitted key questions to the Chairs and Nordic members of the ITRE and IMCO committees. 🔸 #GlobalCompetitiveness for #EuropeanTech: What strategies will you employ to ensure that European tech companies can compete on a global scale while adhering to EU regulations? 🔹 #BalancingRegulation and #Innovation: Given concerns that you might be a milder regulator than Breton, how do you plan to maintain a firm stance on big tech while fostering innovation? 🔸 Addressing #SkillsShortages in Innovation: How will you address the persistent skills shortages that hinder innovation and technology adoption in various sectors? 🔹 Support for Companies Facing #SkillGaps: What support will be available for companies struggling to implement advanced technologies due to #STEMskills shortages? 🔸 Effective Implementation of the #AIAct: How will you ensure the effective implementation of the AI Act across all EU countries, given the need for joint clarification and dedication? 📄 Find the questions and background information https://lnkd.in/dW_N4PTG Borys Budka, Anna Cavazzini, Morten Løkkegaard, Niels Fuglsang, Niels Flemming Hansen, Sigrid Friis, Eero Heinäluoma, Jussi Saramo, Ville Niinistö, Sofie Eriksson, Henrik Dahl, Christel Schaldemose, Maria Guzenina, Anna-Maja Henriksson, Adnan Dibrani, Hanna Rebecka Gedin Arba Kokalari, IDA Sveriges Ingenjörer [Engineers of Sweden] NITO - Norges Ingeniør- og Teknologorganisasjon Tekniikan akateemiset TEK Insinööriliitto | Union of Professional Engineers in Finland Verkfræðingafélag Íslands Magnus Kjellsson Fin Krogh Jørgensen Jussi-Pekka Teini Marit Stykket Sigrun Hafstein Gro Tvedt Anderssen #ListentoEngineers

We stand at a pivotal moment for Europe. The societal challenges we face—from #energy and #cybersecurity crises to the shortage of critical #rawmaterials — demand decisive action. In this context, #DeepTech innovation is essential for Europe to thrive, to enhance its competitiveness, and to ensure the health and well-being of its regional #ecosystems. Great challenges require a comprehensive #innovation strategy that will guide our path forward by strengthening existing capabilities and fostering the development of new ones. Moreover, innovation shapes markets, transforms economies, improves the quality of public services, and is crucial for addressing the most pressing global challenges. The European Commission launched The New European Innovation Agenda (#NEIA) to position Europe at the forefront of the new wave of deep tech innovation. Under this flagship area, the NEIA addresses three specific goals: ✅ strengthening regional innovation ecosystems on the basis of local ‘smart specialisation’ strategies ✅ reducing the regional innovation divide that persists across Europe in spite of several EU and national actions ✅ incentivising better innovation collaboration between regions in their common areas of smart specialisation to create and strengthen value chains across Europe. Innovation is a cross-cutting priority contributing to both the #GreenTransition and #DigitalTransition, European competitiveness, economic security and open strategic autonomy. 25 actions put forward in the NEIA, grouped under five flagship areas, aim at: 1️⃣ improving funding for deep-tech scale-ups 2️⃣ enabling deep-tech innovation through experimentation spaces and public procurement 3️⃣ accelerating and strengthening innovation in European innovation ecosystems across the EU and addressing the innovation divide 4️⃣ fostering, attracting and retaining deep-tech talents 5️⃣ improving policy-making tools. For businesses, this landscape presents unparalleled opportunities to leverage deep tech innovations to drive growth and competitiveness. 📌 How can you strategically position your company to not only benefit from these innovations but also contribute to shaping the future of deep tech in Europe? Think about your proactive engagement in the deep tech ecosystem. By András G. Inotai. Discover more: https://lnkd.in/dEkuKuEF

A new institutional cycle began in Europe on 6-9 June. This marked the beginning of a crucial period where public policies and legislative initiatives will be decisive for the future #prosperity European citizens. Ursula von der Leyen in her speech “Europe’s Choice” outlined a concrete roadmap for closing the #productivity gap and revitalizing Europe’s #competitiveness on the global stage. In particular, she stressed the need to invest in strategic technologies to foster #innovation and maintain industrial #leadership in Europe. "Our first priority will be prosperity and competitiveness. The fundamentals of the global economy are changing. Those who stand still will fall behind. Those who are not competitive will be dependent." The European Round Table for Industry - ERT and others have been vocal about the EU’s falling competitiveness. But "with an ambitious and holistic approach, the EU can still make up some of the lost ground of the past years and maintain its position as the best place to live, learn and work." Mario Draghi’s at the High-level Conference on the European Pillar of Social Rights (April 16) anticipated the tone of his much-awaited report: "We are lacking a strategy for how to keep pace in an increasing cutthroat race for leadership in new technologies. Today we invest less in digital and advanced technologies than the US and China (...) we only have four global European tech players among the top 50 worldwide. Restoring our competitiveness (...) requires us to act as a European Union in a way we never have before. We need a European Union that is ready for today and tomorrow, what I will propose is a radical change, that’s what we need." As Draghi’s landmark report came just off press, we had the privilege to host a delegation led by Christian Danielsson (Sweden's Secretary of State for European Affairs), Per-Arne Hjelmborn (Sweden's Ambassador to Spain), and industry leaders José María Galofré Ragel (Volvo Cars), Mario Tordesillas Fernández (SKF Group), Antonio Freije (ABB) and Anna Fransson (Cámara de Comercio Hispano-Sueca) We reflected on how Spain’s and Europe´s competitiveness, global technology leadership, open strategic autonomy and twin transitions will be powered by high performance differentiated networks. Countries with forward-leaning governments have already developed advanced digitalization plans built on #5G. Spain's SETELECO. Secretaría de Estado de Telecomunicaciones e Infraestructuras Digitales has being instrumental to: + Bridge the connectivity investment gap with public aid to amplify private sector resources, and support adoption of ‘transformational’ 5G + Extend spectrum licenses to reduce financial burden for operators + Stimulate the adoption of 5G-enabled use cases to both i. transform public admin and ii. catalyze private demand. Kristoffer Eliasson #teamericsson Jorge Navais Andrew Lloyd Robert Condon Patrik Forslund Rene Summer Martin Whitehead Alberto Zilio Gabriel Solomon

Today the European Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Councils came together for their annual spring meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania. They signed a Joint Statement about the importance of European and national policies to attract non-European STE(A)M-talent to Europe:   Europe is already experiencing a shortage of skilled labour in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STE(A)M). If we want to reach all of Europe’s goals, for example, those concerning the triple transition to a green and digital economy and society, then we will need a lot more people with those specific areas of skills. With this joint statement, we want to highlight the importance of joining complementary strategies together to collectively attract STE(A)M-talent from outside Europe. Beside training national talent, including that of migrants and refugees, recruiting qualified people from other countries is an urgent need as well. If talent from outside Europe that comes to the continent and later on returns home, their home country will benefit from this, as these skilled workers are also highly demanded back home. Through the creation of a trusted international network of innovative minds, we can help and benefit from each other. With this statement, we also want to highlight the benefits for the least developed countries.   The statement also emphasizes the importance of a large, unified internal EU market with easy circulation and movement of talent. However, there remains structural barriers hindering circulation and movement, as local regulations differ among countries. The text in the recommendations of the Council of the European Union in December 2023 on a European framework to attract and retain research, innovation and entrepreneurial talents in Europe does not bind Member States enough as they can still set many barriers. This was also pointed out by LERU. We need a European umbrella that enables national and regional regulations to be aligned.   As Europe will be attracting foreign STE(A)M-talent, it is in our interest to proactively address the need for a more uniform approach in tackling the threats to knowledge security. In all this, European countries need to maintain a delicate balance between open innovation and strategic autonomy. Picture: Patrick Essers (AWTI - Advisory council for science, technology and innovation), Danielle Raspoet (VARIO Flemish Advisory Council for Innovation and Enterprise) and Signe Nipper Nielsen (Danmarks Forsknings- og Innovationspolitiske Råd (DFiR). Frede Blaabjerg Mette Birkedal Bruun Steffen Bohni Nielsen Jes Broeng Poul Toft Frederiksen Tine Jess Søren Nedergaard Christine Nellemann Lene Tanggaard Thomas Trøst Hansen Lea Svenningsen Anders Kamp Høst Rosa Bennekou

Time flies - almost two weeks ago I had the honor to speak at EFNI, organized by Konfederacja Lewiatan together with Markus Reinisch, Dariusz Jemielniak, last but not least - MEP Krzysztof Hetman and Minister of Digital Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of Poland Krzysztof Gawkowski. Policymakers’ comments on the overregulation of tech were refreshing, yet recent events for EU tech policy leave me with mixed thoughts: ▫️After Draghi’s report and his modest comments on the overregulation of tech, it has become acceptable to repeat and remix the thought. The main question today is whether this stance will be followed by concrete action. Currently, it seems that the old agenda continues without major changes. I hope I am wrong in the long term. ▫️Poland will chair the Council of the EU in 2025 H1, Denmark in 2025 H2, Ireland in 2026 H1, Lithuania in 2027 H1, Latvia in 2028 H2, etc. Political cycles change, and policy stances too, yet it will be interesting to see if pro-innovation stance is backed by action. If these countries don’t bring some fresh air to the debate, we probably won’t see much coming in the future anyway. Preparation is needed - for the industry, for the policymakers, for the regulators. ▫️ I enjoy reading books about tech regulation and deeply admire most of the authors’ expertise and values. Truly. Having grown up witnessing the outcomes of a 50-year unfree economy (the Soviet #coup, if you will), I can’t help but be amazed by the self-confidence in the ability not only to draft and adopt policies but also to implement them in ways that protect citizens without harming tech innovation, consumer choice, or business environment. It’s hyperbole, of course, but it's clear we need to focus on better implementation. Shooting for the moon with the preconditioned acceptance that we’ll land somewhere among the stars does not enhance the EU’s credibility, predictability, or strength. ▫️One thing we have to collectively drop is Potemkin village narratives when it comes to innovation (be it tech or anything else). The EU is not (yet) part of a global AI tech race, despite significant leaps France and Germany made over the past few years. Most CEE countries lag behind many Western European ones in almost all innovation parameters. It’s not all about the (public) money - yes, innovators need to be trusted in order to take necessary risks, yet some more accountability in some sectors is needed too. I hope the new Commissioner from Bulgaria (if confirmed) will address some of the pressing issues, despite the pressure she receives. ▫️BRICS is now increasingly discussing its own ‘tech sovereignty.’ If this isn’t a clear sign to take a notch down in the transatlantic infighting (there are no saints on both sides of the Atlantic), I don’t know what is.

As usual, lots of interesting nuggets in the Chilean public sector innovation index, now in its 5th year, incl. an attempt at measuring innovation "velocity", correlation between different innovation capabilities and the variation of sources of innovation (internal vs. external) over time https://indice.lab.gob.cl Kudos Orlando Rojas cc Rainer Kattel Lene Krogh Jeppesen

Europe's future through R&I - are we ready? The European Commission envisions a future for Europe in which research and innovation drives Europe's global competitiveness. But for this to happen, we urgently need to overcome our fragmentation; invest much more in R&I; and ensure that the sum of our national/regional R&I systems are bigger than their parts. A key frame for putting us in the right direction has been the new European Research Area (ERA), which has been developed since 2021. After three years, the Commission's ERA Communication has reported on progress. What have we learnt? 1. For Europe's research systems to come together, we need culture change amongst all the actors - policy-makers, institutions, researchers. There has been significant progress, starting with ERA's governance through the #ERA Forum where stakeholders, national governments, and the European Commission regularly come together. There is a much richer dialogue now on research priorities within and across member states - that's a fantastic start. And indeed, a number of important reforms, notably on research assessment, are under way that require precisely an alignment of assessment cultures. But: we still have far to go. 2. It is good to see R&I reforms in a number of member states, and indeed: ERA provides a unique context for the Commission's vision to create integrated technology infrastructures effectively and strategically. 3. But: It is clear that we require much more action on key ERA goals, and here the EU's powers are just too limited to progress on its own: for instance, the EU can encourage better academic career structures, but without serious national commitment and investment any progress can only be marginal. 4. The fundamental problem is still that combined EU investment in R&I is only at 2.3% of GDP, compared to 3.6% in the US and even higher levels in leading Asian states. This is despite record EU investment in R&I through the #MFF and the Recovery and Resilience Fund. ERA requires more than integrated structures and aligned cultures: it requires serious investment. In the context of global R&I spending, Europe has its back to a wall, and we simply cannot rely just on the EU to get us out of this: we need national commitment. So this is what is at stake in Brussels right now, and it will play out also in discussions about the EU's vision for the next Framework Programme, FP10 - will member states align with the EU's ambitions to put R&I front and centre of Europe's recovery? Member states must realise there is no alternative. See my opinion piece (free to view)on #ResearchProfessional: 👉 https://bit.ly/4e65139 Craig Nicholson John Whitfield Anders Hagfeldt Elisabeth Smits (former Grabenweger) Iliana Ivanova Weitgruber Barbara Schmid Martin Hugues Abriel Rachel Sandison OBE (FCIM) Erik Yssen Martin ANDLER Manuela Baccarini University of Vienna Rik Van de Walle Françoise Smets Jouke de Vries Udice - French Research Universities