Advanced Manufacturing in the spotlight during European Parliament dinner debate
Wednesday 28 January: Leading figures from across our industry sat with Members of the European Parliament and prominent European Commission officials for a high-level dinner debate on the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF.) The European Forum for Manufacturing event, "Increasing Investment in Advanced Manufacturing – Europe’s Industrial Backbone”, was organised in partnership with Orgalim and CECIMO.
Hosted by MEP Sara Matthieu (Greens, Belgium), the keynote speech came from Alexandr Hobza, Chief Economist for Executive Vice President of the Commission, Stéphane Séjourné, who outlined how the Fund could drive both innovation and industrial deployment across Europe.
Other speeches, including from Javier Ormazabal, CEO of Velatia Group in Spain and President of Orgalim, made clear that urgency is required if we want our manufacturing sector to deliver the autonomy, competitiveness and innovation Europe needs.
Mr Carsten Schierenbeck, Head of Unit for Industrial Transformation at DG Research and Innovation, closed the evening by acknowledging many of the points, including using the ECF as a 'launch pad' to rally private investment and scale up investment in advanced manufacturing technologies.
No matter how automated we become, human curiosity does not stand still. The most advanced technologies of today will always look old-fashioned to the next generation. Manufacturers are engineers. And engineers cannot help but ask a simple question: what’s next?
Advanced Manufacturing is fast becoming one of the most prominently mentioned terms in Brussels with regards to competitiveness and Europe's industrial strategy, with MEPs Pilar del Castillo (EPP, Spain) Thomas Pellerin-Carlin (S&D, France) Benedetta Scuderi (Greens, Italy) and Christophe Clergeau (S&D, France) all delivering strong statements about how to ensure tangible benefits for Europe’s industrial ecosystem and European society more broadly, given current geopolitical tensions.
Further supporting the points and adding to the discussion with concrete examples were industry leaders, who used the occasion to send a clear message of consensus: Europe’s competitiveness and strategic autonomy depend on a strong manufacturing base and advanced manufacturing must be considered as a strategic priority.