05 / 05 / 2021
EARTO Press Release on Updating the 2020 EU Industrial Strategy
EARTO very much welcomes the European Commission’s update of the 2020 new EU industrial Strategy to take into the account the learnings of the COVID-19 Pandemic in its new Communication. Based on the last Communication on “A New Industrial Strategy for Europe” rightly focusing on EU industrial ecosystems and technology leadership, the new Communication acknowledges the issues discussed with the newly established Industrial Forum to which EARTO actively contributes. In the European Commission’s Communication, EARTO especially welcomes:- The monitoring announced on the industrial trends and competitiveness as Europe needs to analyse and address strategic technological and industrial dependencies together. In its monitoring, the EC will now pay extra attention to R&D investments, based on public and private R&D expenditure as % of GDP, investing in RD&I to build EU industrial competitiveness being the best form of investment to boost EU open strategic autonomy. EARTO hereby stresses the need to monitor the type of RD&I investments made on technology capabilities and technology infrastructures, data which are desperately missing today.
- The plans to set an EU open strategic autonomy in practice by analyzing Europe’s challenges and dependencies in key advanced technologies necessary for the green and digital transitions. The development of in-depth reviews of potential dependencies in technologies key to the twin transition will require the EC to tap in the capabilities of European RTOs (i.e. foresight & in-depth knowledge of technologies).
- The building of a toolbox to reduce and prevent strategic dependencies as well as the co-creation of green and digital transition pathways for relevant ecosystems. The industrial alliances, if they effectively build upon the upcoming Horizon Europe’s public-private partnerships, will provide the broad and open platforms to establish strategic industrial technology roadmaps and organise an efficient coordination of RD&I investment plans for technologies in specific industrial ecosystems. Further efforts should be concentrated using the new industrial technology roadmaps announced in the EC Communication on the European Research Area. In addition, the EU should clearly be promoting to Member States in joining forces in multi-country projects via their Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRPs) to build digital and green critical technological capabilities. Both the ERA industrial technology roadmaps and the national RRPs will have to jointly include clear targeted investments in technology infrastructures. In this context, co-designing the new ERA Strategy for Technology Infrastructures jointly with relevant stakeholders will be most relevant (see EARTO paper on TIs).
- The continuous EC support to Member States’ efforts to pool public resources via Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEIs).
- The current review of the EU competition rules: ensuring a sound implementation of EU State aid rules avoiding over-interpretations at national level will be key (on SAR for RD&I, see the latest EC DG JRC Study and EARTO report on State Aid).
- The development of the guidance on how to use public procurement effectively to strengthen the resilience of key ecosystems. This guidance should be completed by negotiating a derogation with the World Trade Organisation’s Government Procurement Agreement (WTO GPA) Committee on public procurement of R&I.
- The ongoing creation of the Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy.
- The upcoming common e-form for the declaration of the posting of workers.
