The Future of European Competitiveness:
Draghi’s Call for Innovation and Decarbonisation
On September 9th, the European Commission released ‘The future of European competitiveness’, a report by the former European Central Bank (ECB) President and former -Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi exploring what is holding back the bloc’s competitiveness. The report investigates how innovation, decarbonisation, security, and reduction of dependencies will potentially play an essential role in supporting European economy and society.
In the heart of brightness? What’s in there:
The report looks at how the European Union (EU) has fallen behind in the past decades, struggling to keep up with the productivity and innovative capacity of other global super-powers, namely, the United States and China. The press conference and the report itself are a stark warning to European policymakers and Member States that urgent action is needed to restore the bloc’s competitiveness in the international context, and to ensure that the European way of life can survive the next few decades. The report identifies a potential way ahead in increased political and financial investment in innovation, decarbonisation, security, and the reduction of dependencies.
In this regard, Digital for Planet actively works (through active involvement in several Horizon Europe projects, presentations at European and international conferences , or expert analysis & publications) at the crossroads of decarbonisation, innovation, and security. For example, as our President, Dr. Monique Calisti, recently said in Valencia, at the One6G Summit 2024, innovation and sustainability should be seamlessly aligned if we want to shape a sustainable digital future for Europe.
Key message of the report
The report brings innovation in the spotlight as one of the tools the EU should rely on to achieve better competitiveness. Along with digitalisation and advanced technologies, high-speed/capacity networks, computing, and AI and automotive, energy and clean technology are expected to be important policy areas of intervention. On energy, for example, the report investigates bottlenecks slowing the adoption of clean energy sources and examines potential incentives. Additionally, the report identifies skills as the ‘foundations of a thriving and competitive economy,’ stressing that it will be necessary to reduce the skill gap to support competitiveness.
Thanks to a varied project portfolio revolving around sustainable solutions for the European technological ecosystem, Digital for Planet is extremely well positioned to support the policy orientations outlined in Draghi’s report.