EU Industrial Strategy - Unlocking the power of industrial innovation to create a prosperous, sustainable and safe Europe

The COVID-19 outbreak represents an unprecedented situation, and priority should be given to help tackle the pandemic. Industry stands ready to contribute and help manage the immediate medical needs and mitigate the wider socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in the EU.

This document focuses on the longer-term approach for an industrial strategy. After the crisis, a strong industry will be essential to ensure Europe stands ready to tackle the socio-economic consequences of the crisis, and to rekindle Europe’s economies and safeguard the prosperity and wellbeing of its citizens.

The future of the EU lies in its ability to create a healthy, prosperous, sustainable, and safe Europe for its citizens. Industry is the backbone of Europe’s ability to achieve these goals. The objective of Europe’s new industrial strategy must be to lead the EU in its twin digital and climate transformation, and to reach the targets of the Green Deal for the benefit of people, planet and businesses alike. Europe is already the world leader in the transformation to climate neutrality and a sustainable circular economy.

In order to fully realise Europe’s potential, we need to support the future technological leadership of Europe’s industries. We need to put globalisation and technology at the service of all European citizens. Technology solutions, combining the physical and digital worlds, are key to providing solutions to the most pressing societal challenges the EU faces, from mitigating the socio-economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic to tackling climate change, sustainability and demographic change.

For the EU to lead the transformation of its economy to a future in which it is carbon-lean, circular and internationally competitive, Orgalim believes a new type of industrial strategy is required. This strategy should be based on three overarching strategic imperatives for the EU:

• Embrace the innovation-led transformation of European industry

• Enable EU industry’s long-term global leadership and competitiveness

• Turn global challenges, including climate neutrality, into drivers of prosperity

In Orgalim’s ‘2030: an industry vision for a renewed Europe’ we outline our broad vision of an industrial strategy based on these strategic imperatives. With this paper, we are putting forward the concrete measures we believe are needed.

We strongly believe that at the heart of an industrial strategy needs to be a functioning open market based on free and fair competition, with a level playing field both across Member States and companies of different sizes. We also recognise, however, that Europe must carve out its future position in a more aggressive, and less fair and rules-based global competitive environment. This calls for a more strategic approach towards unlocking the potential of Europe’s future-oriented industries and deploying all available private and public instruments to drive their development and their deployment. This document outlines Orgalim’s views, building on our Vision 2030.

To read our views in full, please download the document above.