Industrial Policy

More space for more Europe

2018 will be a crucial year to shape a stimulating new narrative for EU space policy. Jean-Loic Galle lists a couple of key points ahead of the 10th EU space policy conference taking place in Brussels on 23 and 24 January.

Circular economy success needs more than ambitious policies

Voluntary agreements are hardly a new concept but industry action on this front can drive real progress, particularly when it comes to the circular economy, writes MEP Martina Dlabajová.

Cross-border mobility of companies: ‘Real seat’ vs ‘incorporation’

EU member states have adopted contrasting approaches to the cross-border mobility of companies, with some insisting on “real” economic activity and others happy to consider the legally-registered office instead. How the EU eventually decides could have important implications, writes Corrado Malberti.

Don’t protect us from doing business!

It’s always a pleasure to be praised as strategically important. But when looking at the European Commission’s current proposal for screening foreign direct investments, many entrepreneurs ask: what is the strategy? Thilo Brodtmann explains.

FP9: An unmissable chance to boost European additive manufacturing industry

The new EU Framework Programme offers an unmissable opportunity to step up public research investment in additive manufacturing/3D printing. Let’s make the most out of this key technology for Europe’s future, writes Filip Geerts.

Time to bust a few myths about innovation in the internet of things era

Small European tech companies might be about to lose out if the European Commission's new patent guidelines favour giants like Qualcomm and Ericsson, writes Morgan Reed.

Europe needs an industrial strategy

Calls for the European Commission to develop a holistic EU industrial policy are a welcome development – and one that was long overdue, writes Adrian Harris. If Europe’s Industrial Renaissance is to succeed, a joined-up policy approach is a must, he argues.

How Paris can make European industry great again

For much of this century, Europe has been a pioneer and a role model for countries across the world – be it on industrial innovation, democratic and human rights principles, or on climate change. That leadership role is now needed more than ever, writes Jill Duggan.

Why Europe needs an industrial strategy

Global investment in energy efficiency now outstrips investment in conventional power generation. Europe is at the forefront and recognises that energy efficiency represents a vast energy resource that is one of the most cost-effective ways of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, writes Heinz Haller.

Putting innovation at the heart of the Energy Union

As the European Commission elaborates its Energy Union strategy, and as national and local governments plan their contribution to the union’s aims of energy security, decarbonisation and cost-efficiency, they need to create an environment that nurtures innovation in policy, technology and business models, write Pascal Lamy and Philip Lowe.

Why the EU’s electricity market design proposal actually matters

The European Commission’s vision of an Energy Union with citizens at its core, where consumers take ownership of the energy transition, is to be applauded but needs to be followed up with genuine policy change, writes Jonathan Gaventa.

Protecting European firms against trade secret misappropriations

The trade secrets directive will generate legal certainty for European innovators by creating a secure environment where valuable know-how can be exchanged, writes the Trade Secrets and Innovation Coalition (TSIC).

Laying the groundwork for 5G

The first obvious step to prepare for 5G networks is to increase connectivity, writes Guo Ping. The second is to shift the ICT industry from being supply-driven to being demand-driven so as to enable the digital transformation of vertical industries.

The high road: Europe must seize the potential of advanced manufacturing

To carve out a competitive advantage for the future, Europe must anticipate the potential of advanced manufacturing for clean, efficient and high quality production, write Karl Aiginger and David Bailey.

Re-imagining Europe’s industrial policy

A new European industrial policy that puts innovation at its heart will help us face up to the economic challenges of the future, argue Máire Geoghegan-Quinn and Gary McGann.

‘Industry 4.0’: How European companies can really benefit

Digitisation could be an opportunity for European countries to wrest back production and manufacturing they have lost to regions such as Asia, writes Reinhold Festge.

Photonics: fostering a new wave of industrial innovation

In order to move forward its plans for an ‘industrial renaissance’, the European Commission has to focus on creating a framework that will encourage the new industries of tomorrow, like photonics, writes Michael Mertin.

Industry needs affordable energy and feedstocks

Europe's goal to rebuild an industrial base is welcome but it does not get much help from the Commission’s latest energy and climate package for 2030 unveiled on January 22, writes Hubert Mandery.

MEPs can make an informed decision on medical devices in Europe

On 22 October, the Parliament will vote to decide the course of the EU's Medical Devices Regulation, but several of the amendments proposed by the ENVI Committee could endanger patients, in particular one that allows for the re-use of all medical devices, says Serge Bernasconi.

A few points that MEPs must consider ahead of medical devices vote

The European Parliament will vote soon on medical devices regulation, but a new set of amendments, which most MEPs have not had the time to assess, are being rushed through, says Serge Bernasconi.

The ‘greening’ of industrial policy

While cheap energy prices in industrialised countries can be seen as a short-term reprieve for industries under competitive pressure from low-cost countries, they have negative consequences in the long run, writes Karl Aiginger. He argues that a new industrial policy should support Europe's competitive advantage in clean technology.

Smartphone Armageddon: Patents undermine the tech industry

The EU's use of antitrust disciplines will deter some of the legal injunctions, but not solve the underlying problems – they offer no solution to the problem of how design patents, sometimes with disputable merits, can be used to block competitors’ products, writes Hosuk Lee-Makiyama.

‘Backloading’ vote: Europe’s industrial future hangs in the balance

Despite the current slump in carbon prices, the EU Emissions Trading System is working as intended, and should not be amended further, writes Gordon Moffat. Otherwise, rising carbon costs will boost energy prices and make Europe’s industry less competitive in the face of international competition, he argues.

China: The fine line between fair competition and protectionism

Since global economic ties are so closely meshed and dependent jobs are so numerous, a market intervention in the form of trade barriers would have fatal consequences for the European solar industry, writes Thorsten Preugschas.