Antti Peltomäki, Deputy Director General, DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs and John Higgins, DIGITALEUROPE Director General and President of the Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship presented the recommendations of a report on Digital Transformation of European Industry and Enterprises on 24 March.
The report produced by the Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship, a think tank set up by the European Commission, pinpoints thirteen recommendations for political and business leaders to help Europe deal with the jobs and growth imperative. These fall under four areas; leadership and collaboration, build trust, better and more skills and support and make better policy, rules and regulations.These are the recommendations listed on the report:1. Demonstrate inspirational political leadership; set national digital transformation targets 2. Establish new centres of digital transformation excellence 3. Establish a pan-European network of such centres and from the shared experience develop a European blueprint4. Establish a dialogue between European businesses and technology platform providers5. Reinforce high quality, available and accessible cross sector standards 6. Re-focus funds and programmes to better support digital transformation 7. Promote the importance of digital leadership 8. Make digital part of the educational mainstream9. Increase the supply of new, highly specialised skills10. Establish a permanent observatory to catalogue policy and regulatory impacts on digital transformation11. Put politicians, regulators and officials through digital boot camps12. Examine new policy through a digital lens: the digital test13. Harness the power of e-procurementJohn Higgins outlined the diverse group of leaders the Forum had brought together who truly considered the opportunities that lie in the transformation of Europe’s industries, the impact on workers and the solid leadership necessary during such changes.Ideas were tested in sectors that had already been impacted by digitalisation. John Higgins stressed, it was how digital will improve productivity and not solely the impact that would determine the success of the transformation of Europe’s industry and enterprises.Our economy is fast becoming digitally powered and the biggest opportunity for Europe is in the transformation of the existing traditional industry and enterprises. “Digital is neither a luxury nor a sector but a necessity” is how Nicholas Davis, World Economic Forum Director and Head of Europe described the state of affairs.Businesses need to reflect on how to implement the recommendations so European and global opportunities are not missed.(Text taken from: http://www.digitaleurope.org/DigitalHeadlines/Story.aspx?newsID=335) For READ MORE on the Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship and to get access to the full report, click here: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=8188)