WEF and Mckinsey advocate favoring consolidation operations, simplifying regulation and promoting entrepreneurship, among others
MADRID, 19 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Europe faces the challenge of improving its competitiveness against the main global players, such as China or the United States (USA), something that is reflected in the fact that between 2015 and 2022 large companies on the ‘Old Continent’ invested 700,000 million euros less per year than their counterparts in the North American country, according to a report prepared by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in collaboration with the consulting firm Mckinsey & Company.
Its analysts calculate that this investment gap, especially in the field of technology, creates strategic dependencies for Europe that threaten to miss opportunities to add between 2 and 4 trillion euros annually to the gross domestic product of the region as a whole until 2040. .
Along these lines, the report highlights that Europe only occupies a leadership position compared to the United States and China in four of the 14 technologies considered critical for the future of the global economy, specifically: quantum, climate, bioengineering and advanced connectivity.
However, it is behind in robotics, semi-doctors, space technologies, mobility, electrification and renewables, artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, immersive reality, development of next-generation software and cloud computing, the latter element that includes, for example, data centers.
In this context, the analysis of the World Economic Forum in collaboration with Mckinsey, called ‘Europe in the Intelligent Age: From Ideas to Action’, launches a battery of proposals to ” promote timely action” in Europe to regain competitiveness.
On the one hand, the authors of the document advocate adopting “clear strategic decisions” about “where to play and how to win in all technological areas.”
That includes a “rapid scale-up” of commercialization efforts, such as deploying public procurement funds to create new markets in emerging sectors such as quantum computing and applying “vertical leapfrogging and niche” strategies in areas where Europe faces important challenges, such as certain segments of the semiconductor industry.
Added to this is a reorientation of efforts towards the transfer of foreign capabilities, such as in cloud computing.
-Likewise, the analysts in charge of the study propose that Europe prioritize 10 major lines of action from the public sector to transform the investment environment of the European Union (EU).
It is proposed, for example, to promote entrepreneurship with the creation of a single regulatory regime in Europe that simplifies the rules to which companies must comply, to which is also added the need to reduce the approval times of measures in the digital sphere.
They also advocate the acceleration of consolidations in Europe to streamline investments, something that, for example, companies such as Telefónica or MasOrange have demanded from the Spanish telecommunications sector, the latter company being the result of the merger of Orange and MásMóvil in Spain, an operation that took almost two years to receive approval from Brussels.
The report also calls on Europe to simplify regulation to reduce the risk of “falling behind” compared to major global competitors.
The rest of the proposed initiatives range from developing a time-bound EU digital permit system to positioning the public sector as an “anchor customer” for “radical innovation.”
The third axis of the measures that the report puts on the table has to do with “beacon initiatives of the private sector to mobilize the action” necessary in Europe.
“Europe has to strengthen its competitiveness to remain relevant (…) The problems and the broad answers are well known. Now is the time to follow up on priority initiatives that can catapult the ‘Old Continent’ into this era of innovation . This research advocates clarity in strategies and lighthouse initiatives that must be provided with scale, resistance and prioritized by the public sector,” the authors highlight.
The document will be debated at a high-level dinner on January 22 at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum – the Davos Forum – by government, business and academic leaders.