Present at the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry and Research (ITRE) on Monday 30 September, Renate Nikolay, Director General of the European Commission’s Communications Networks and Technology department (CONNECT), gave a brief presentation of the contents of the report on the digital decade published during the summer (see EUROPE 13444/11).
The report’s conclusions are still unequivocal: the EU is a long way from achieving the goals it has set itself in terms of digital, advanced technologies and connectivity.
“This is a clear wake-up call, because there will be no targets for 2030 if we continue on this path”, admitted Ms Nikolay. In her view, a number of areas are lagging far behind: “digital skills, high-quality connectivity, the use of artificial intelligence and data analysis in businesses”, as well as “chips and the start-up ecosystem”.
The EU is clearly not doing enough. With a proven investment deficit of €200 billion in connectivity, it will be almost impossible to achieve the objectives of the digital decade, with unchanged policies.
“55% of our citizens have basic digital skills. That’s very low compared with our targets, and it’s even worse in the field of advanced technologies. We’re having trouble finding experts”, explained Renate Nikolay.
In the face of this rather gloomy report, the European official was nonetheless fairly enthusiastic about the future organisation of the College of Commissioners and the political orientations of the future Commission. In her view, a new form of “cooperation” between the various commissioners needs to emerge. “The key guidelines of security, competitiveness and democracy must be addressed together”, she said. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)