“These are tough times for businesses across Europe. It’s hard to plan investments in the midst of a pandemic, with little certainty about the future. And that’s one of the reasons we’ve put together Next Generation EU: the €750 billion recovery plan, on top of the European and national budgets. At least 20% of Next Generation EU will fund investments in digital: and that means, roughly, €150 billion.”
Ursula von der Leyen – President of the European Commission
Our lives are increasingly being shaped by digitization and related technologies. They are altering how we work, shop, communicate, and spend our leisure time. With the increasing importance of technology in our daily lives, its integration into the economy and public administration is becoming increasingly critical for the entire country. In the business world, more and more industrial companies are embracing the concept of Industry 4.0, while service companies are embracing digital transformation.
The central concept of digital transformation is to change business processes in organizations so that they are as supported and automated as possible by digital technologies. Many companies in the EU have already begun to digitalize their operations, but the number is still too low, particularly in the continent's west and south. During the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukrainian crisis, the need to promote the digital and technological transformation of the economy became even clearer.
The EU's share of global GDP (global gross domestic product) is projected to fall from 22% to 14% by 2050, reflecting the importance of the economy's digital transformation in the EU strategy. The EU does not want to become merely a market for foreign companies, particularly in the rapidly growing Asian market for various digital service providers. As a result, the EU has decided to reverse the negative trend and steer the ship in its favor, particularly through innovation and digital transformation, highlighted as one of the most significant challenges confronting current generations.
The European Commission has established the Digital Europe Programme (DEP), which will be implemented between 2021 and 2027. The DEP aims to accelerate the digital transformation of European societies and economies by encouraging large-scale deployment of digital technologies. The program, which is complementary to the Horizon Europe scheme, has a total budget of 9.2 billion in total and has started in the first quarter of 2021.
The European Commission also planned to establish European Digital Innovation Hubs within the framework of the DEP (EDIH). EDIH will play a key role in promoting the digital transformation, focusing on introducing new approaches and processes across the economy and society using advanced technologies. The five strategic objectives cover a large panel of topics, such as artificial intelligence, supercomputing (HPC), cybersecurity, advanced digital skills, and other digital technologies. It aims to experimenting and testing advanced digital solutions (e.g. Industry 4.0 and 5.0), assessing new businesses and good practices, collaborating in EU with researchers, regional stakeholders and upgrading knowledge and competencies on digital transformations.
“Enhanced digital capabilities will bring real added value to EU citizens, all the more so as the global pandemic shows no sign of loosening its grip. We do not know when the COVID-19 experience will come to an end, but it is clear that digital services are becoming a key driver of our economic growth and that the role of digital technologies will become even more important. It is also clear that the digital sector will play a crucial role in the post-COVID-19 economic recovery, making the Digital Europe program an essential part of the recovery plan.”
Peter Altmaier – German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy
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