Shaping the EU Competitiveness Fund
The context:
Europe's technology industries are facing declining competitiveness, mounting global competition, particularly from the US and China and decrease in investments for a third consecutive year.
- That's where the EU Competitiveness Fund comes in. It is designed to streamline and strengthen EU investment capacity for European projects and boost Europe’s competitiveness by financially supporting strategic technologies and strategic sectors critical to the EU competitiveness.
- But will the Fund provide what Europe needs? We delved into the details in our recent webinar with speakers from the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, the European Policy Center and expert in RDI from Orgalim’s member VDMA.
The needs:
Participants all agreed that while Europe excels in research and startups, it struggles to scale innovations globally, largely due to limited capital and slow, fragmented funding mechanisms.
Some highlights from the webinar:
Agnieszka Skonieczna, Head of Unit for Public Investment, DG GROW:
Our funding is fragmented. It creates a maze of funding opportunities to navigate, especially for our SMEs. This is why the Commission put forward an ambitious proposal for the European Competitiveness Fund in July: a significant investment firepower at European level to support competitiveness.
We need critical mass to be able to compete in developing and manufacturing strategic technologies.
Ulrich Adam, Director General, Orgalim:
The Fund is not the only solution to turn around Euorpe’s competitiveness, but it can and should become a powerful pillar in a broader policy-driven toolbox to reverse the current underinvestment crisis, support innovation, and help Europe’s industry retain global leadership in the green and digital transition.
The best and most cost efficient tool for governments to support competitiveness is by creating the right framework conditions.
James John, Director, International Monetary Fund Offices in Europe:
R&D as well as the innovation and adoption of new technologies are really critical to boosting productivity.
We have recommended a significant increase in EU budget expenditures dedicated to European public goods - such as R&D and cross-border infrastructure to help close investment gaps.
Kai Peters, Deputy Director, VDMA:
The ECF acknowledges the overarching importance of competitiveness, while integrating all the other policy objectives, like sustainability, that in the past decade or so we have looked at somewhat separately.
The Competitiveness Fund is exactly what is needed to get Europe on track to becoming a strategic investment power.
Georg Riekeles, Associate Director, European Policy Centre
We have an investment problem in Europe when it comes to our critical technologies. But actually, it’s a much broader investment problem.
Georg Riekeles also underlined the importance of solving Europe's underinvestment issues:
And this is the test of Europe now if we want to remain prosperous, free and secure.
The EU's number one challenge in addressing these sort of intertwined economic, technological, social, climate and security related shocks is a lack of investment.
The Orgalim team would like to thank Ivana Jakovljevic for leading on this topic. For more information on Orgalim's position and activities on the Competitiveness Fund please contact Ivana, who is our resident policy advisor for corporate sustainability and industrial policy.
Many thanks also to our Director General Ulrich Adam, Policy Director Daniel Wennick, Event Manager Viridiana Alverde.
You can watch a full recording of the webinar below or on our YouTube channel.