Europe’s future is digital

Europe’s digital single market strategy will be published later this month, Digital Economy and Society Commissioner Günther Oettinger has confirmed. The strategy will aim to provide better access to digital goods and services for consumers and businesses, shape the environment for flourishing digital networks and services, and long-term growth potential.

In a speech in Hannover, Oettinger (pictured at left) said that one of the greatest challenges is to ensure that all industrial sectors “make the best use of new technologies and manage their transition towards higher value digitised products and processes [industry 4.0].”

Manufacturing’s share of EU GDP is 15 per cent and declining but the Commission wants this to reach 20 per cent by 2020. The higher value offering would firstly come from innovation in ‘digital-inside’ products: “Opportunities arising from embedding digital technology in any product and artefact are almost infinite.”
This would be backed up by a transformation in processes – smart manufacturing – ranging “from product design and simulation tools to automation and shop floor controls and from logistics and supply chain management down to product tracking and recycling.”

Oettinger recognised that the use of digital technologies leads to “radical and disruptive changes” in business models including those for well-established industries such as automotive, lighting or textiles. However, he added: “If we do not pay enough attention, we might invest in producing wonderful cars but those selling the new [digital] services for the car would be making the money.”