In the run-up to the European elections in 2019, many EU parliamentarians are stressing the importance of digital technologies for society and the economy in Europe and their significance as a driver of future innovation.
However, it remains to be seen whether the EU will actually live up to its own self-assigned goals of strengthening Europe as a digital location. Negotiations are currently underway on the size of the budget for the EU’s “Horizon Europe” research framework programme. The “Digital, Industry and Space” funding cluster plays a decisive role here. Through a merger of industry and research measures, this package is intended to fund the much talked-about and required IT technologies and innovations such as AI, blockchain, cloud computing, and Big Data.
In this regard, Alexander Rabe, member of the strategic ICT platform of the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research, and Managing Director of eco – Association of the Internet Industry, makes the following appeal to the EU Member States:
“In the coming weeks, within the scope of the negotiations on the ‘Horizon Europe’ funding framework, Europe’s course as a digital location will be set for the future. We expect the strategic importance of the Internet and digital economy and the significance of these technologies and innovations to be fully reflected in the assigned budgets.”
As Rabe contends, the many announcements and assurances at European level on strengthening digital performance and sovereignty now need to be followed up with concrete funding policy initiatives; only by doing so, he argues, can Europe be made internationally fit for the future as a digital location.
“Europe must compete with overseas and Asian markets in the field of digital technologies. This must also be reflected in the funding amounts made available to the relevant clusters. A European funding package of at least 15 billion Euros for the area of ‘Digital, Industry and Space’ is still at the lower end of the scale if we want to get on an equal footing with global competitors. In light of current challenges, an increase in funding here would be desirable. Moreover, such funding would also send a strong signal to European IT specialists that, for Europe as a location, it is worth researching and developing innovations in areas such as artificial intelligence, high performance computing, blockchain, Big Data or cloud computing.”
