Winning the Tech Race: Cut-Simplify-Incentivise (DIGITALEUROPE)

Summary

• Europe's GDP growth has stagnated for the past 20 years, and it lags the US by a full 30 per cent.p.2
• Europe is falling behind in seven of the eight critical technologies defining the future, from AI to quantum computing.p.2
• Europe trains 20 per cent of the world's AI talent and has a single market of 450 million people.p.2
• The report calls to close the €800 billion annual investment gap.p.2
• The report proposes that at least a quarter of the EU's budget must go to digitalisation.p.2
• The proposed amendments aim to reach President Von Der Leyen's goal for a 25% reduction in reporting.p.7
• Scaling up critical technology funding requires €1 billion annually.p.16

Key insights

1. Nearly 40 new digital regulations are an extra hurdle for European innovators.p.2
2. Bidding for a public contract in Europe means dealing with 27 different sets of rules and submitting 27 separate proposals.p.13
3. The Tech Competence Workplan aims to certify 2 million ICT specialists annually, with gender balance.p.5
4. The workplan proposes ten cyber training campuses under ERASMUS+.p.5
5. The report proposes a maximum grant decision time of 5 months for Horizon Europe.p.16
6. Infrastructure permits should be granted faster if no response by the relevant authority is given within four months.p.9
7. The report proposes extending the 12-week public consultation period by up to 8 weeks where holiday seasons would hinder participation.p.11