Digital technologies can propel Europe through its sustainable industrial transformation

For 177 years, Siemens has been creating technologies to transform the everyday, for everyone. Inspired by this mission, Siemens is passionately committed to being a vital force that can turn the challenges Europe is facing into opportunities – by leveraging and accelerating the green and digital transition to foster EU competitiveness.

Judith Wiese is Chief People & Sustainability Officer and a Member of the Managing Board at Siemens AG.

The European Union stands at a crossroads. Former European Commission President Jacques Delors once said that the only choice for Europe is between “survival and decline.” Such sentiments resonate more than ever today. For the newly elected EU’s leadership, it means leading 450 million Europeans and 31.5 million enterprises through a fundamental transformation.

As a leading European and global technology company, we believe that sustainability and competitiveness are two sides of the same coin and are Europe’s opportunity to thrive. However, tapping into this potential requires an appropriate European industrial strategy. It encompasses carrying out the necessary reforms, upholding the Green Deal’s legacy and delivering on its implementation. In essence, this is Siemens’ call to the next EU’s leadership, articulated around five levers for a sustainable and competitive Europe. We want to work collectively toward a strategic, bold and coordinated vision for the EU’s future.

The EU now has a unique opportunity to reinvent itself and lead the next revolution by supporting and investing in sustainable and digital technologies. In our daily work at Siemens, we empower our customers – by combining the real world of buildings, grids, factories, trains and healthcare systems with the digital world of software, data, AI and digital twins. By doing so, we accelerate innovation, enhance sustainability and adopt new technologies faster and at scale, thus profoundly transforming entire industries toward sustainable outcomes and heightened competitiveness.

The examples we can provide are manifold. In manufacturing, companies like Heineken and Mercedes use our digital twin technology to cut energy consumption and reduce CO₂ emissions at their production sites. Battery startups like Morrow employ advanced simulation software to design and optimize their products and facilities, accelerating time to market and the energy transition. In transportation, projects like automated train operations for local trains in Hamburg and Copenhagen increase capacity while lowering energy use. These examples show how digital solutions are helping our customers make their operations smarter, more efficient and sustainable.

I am convinced that digitalization is the EU’s chance to accelerate its green and competitive transition, enabling more productivity, efficiency and resilience and reaching the EU’s 2050 carbon neutral objective. We can reignite productivity and sustainable growth if we build on the EU’s industrial strengths and technological know-how and scale digital technologies. For this to happen, we need political support, investments and the overall regulatory framework to facilitate the deployment of these technologies across Europe.

But that is not all. To succeed, European industry needs an environment that enables our businesses to operate and unleashes our technological potential. This imperative goes with skills, innovation and implementation of adopted legislation.

Digitalization and AI are the transformative technologies of our time and have the potential to significantly improve the future of work and lives. These technologies can address the issue of an aging and shrinking workforce, help democratize access to technology and accelerate the speed of transformation needed to create a secure and prosperous future for all.

Politics and industry need to act hand in hand to encourage people to embrace technology and change as well as understand the need for resilience and flexibility. Together, we need to create the right environment for re- and upskilling our people so that businesses and the economy remain competitive and equitable.

It is also high time to deliver on the promises of a conducive business environment with a coherent and future-proof regulatory framework and match our ambition of leading on innovation with adequate financial means. This support will be essential to boost private investments in research and innovation, strengthen our innovation ecosystems and deploy groundbreaking technology solutions. Mario Draghi rightfully pointed out in a recent report just how urgently we need to tackle our innovation deficit and find new growth engines.

At Siemens, we firmly believe that industry has a home and a future in Europe. This conviction drives our more than €1bn global investment plan for the EU combined with the presence of our world-leading manufacturing sites, R&D hubs and half of our global workforce in Europe with 145,000 people across the EU’s 27 Member States.

Guided by our purpose to “create technology to transform the everyday, for everyone,” Siemens accelerates the digital transformation to empower customers and partners to scale their sustainability impact faster. The EU can only be successful in our common aim if we join forces, collectively as industry representatives and policy-makers. Siemens stands ready as a trusted partner to support EU institutions for an ambitious new term and beyond.