Mario Draghi, the former President of the European Central Bank and Italian Prime Minister, released his long-awaited report on the Future of European Competitiveness yesterday.
The report analyses the current challenges faced by industries and companies in the European Single Market, and its findings will contribute to the European Commission’s new plan for sustainable prosperity and competitiveness in Europe, particularly the development of the new Clean Industrial Deal which featured in Ursula von der Leyen’s political guidelines for 2024-2029.
The Draghi report calls for radical change to ensure that the European Union is not left behind on the world stage in terms of growth and innovation, which Draghi describes as an “existential challenge”.
Draghi highlights three key action areas to “reignite sustainable growth” in Europe:
- refocus collective efforts on closing the innovation gap with the US and China, particularly in relation to advanced technologies
- create a joint plan for decarbonisation and competitiveness
- increase European security and reduce dependencies
In terms of Research and Innovation (R&I), the report emphasises the need to:
- focus on the commercialisation of fundamental research, an area where the EU falls short in comparison to the US and China
- significantly increase investment and public spending on EU R&I
- improve the coordination of public R&I across Member States
- establish and consolidate European academic institutions at the forefront of global research
- Promote academic excellence and world-leading institutions, such as through the ERC
- Create a more favourable and simpler regulatory ecosystem for innovative companies, facilitating their ability to scale up and for “inventors to become investors”
The full report on The Future of European Competitiveness, which is split into two parts, can be found on the European Commission website.