Summit on European Digital Sovereignty: Place Greater Emphasis on Industrial Applications

"It is good that the summit is addressing the issue of digital sovereignty at the European level and bringing together important partners from the EU. In doing so, the German government is sending a strong signal about the importance of digital resilience. It has been correctly recognized that key technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and microelectronics need to be strengthened. These fields are essential for Europe's competitiveness. However, it would have been desirable to focus much more strongly on industrial applications, especially industrial AI. Europe has great strengths and enormous potential in this area: this market could grow sevenfold to around €380 billion over the next ten years. To achieve this, however, it is urgently necessary to drastically reduce and simplify the regulatory requirements for industrial AI with the Digital Omnibus. Otherwise, we risk artificially slowing down our potential in Europe.

Another positive aspect is that the importance of standardization for digital sovereignty has been recognized. However, we should also take the next step here: the active participation of companies in international standardization must be promoted, as must research and development. One approach could be tax incentives for standardization activities. Only through active participation can we secure our position in global markets in the long term."

In addition, the ZVEI and its French counterpart, the FIEEC, have drafted a position paper for the summit in which the two associations set out their joint demands. This paper is available to be downloaded here.