CEOs of Ericsson and Nokia team up for conference, New Industrial Ambition for Europe, in Brussels
The CEOs of arch rivals Ericsson and Nokia, Börje Ekholm and Pekka Lundmark, hosted the New Industrial Ambition for Europe summit in Brussels. Their aim is to spur “momentum across the EU to implement the actions required to deliver future European digitalisation success – including a more supportive regulatory environment and making the region more attractive to investors.”
The conference’s purpose was to “discuss how Europe can act on the warnings from respected European technology CEOs and implement the Draghi and Letta reports.” The summit was supported by Germany’s software firm SAP and the Netherlands’ ASML, which specialises in chip manufacturing technology.
The Letta report on the Single Market was published last April, followed by Mario Draghi’s The future of European Competitiveness in September. Enrico Letta is a former Italian Prime Minister and was then Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs.His report was intended as a blue print for the future Single Market.
Draghi is also a former Prime Minister of Italy and former Governor of the European Central Bank. Draghi’s report criticised the current EU policies concerning monopolies and mergers, and proposed some radical remedies. It has been widely cited and European operators hope it might help usher in the sort of regulatory changes they have long pushed for, including industry consolidation to gain greater scale.
Many European operators are staggering under the weight of enormous debts and seeing little if any revenue growth – typically 1-2%.
We can’t continue as we are
At the summit the CEOs reiterated their positions, with Ekholm stating, “The unique coming together of four technology leaders highlights the urgency facing Europe’s economy to decision-makers in member states. Companies like Ericsson already invest disproportionally more in R&D in Europe. If other regions continue to race ahead, this model cannot survive.
“Those regions are embracing opportunity through investment, policy, and regulatory support. Europe is not. Yet the solution is well known. The EU must implement the Draghi and Letta Report recommendations to enable the technology sector to play our part in delivering future European prosperity.”
Nokia’s Lundmark said, “European competitiveness already has one foot in the morgue. Our real GDP is 30% less than the US’s, the EU’s share of the Fortune Global 500 is still falling and our digital future looks less certain than ever. The good news is that we can still turn this tanker around. Europe must create an environment in which businesses want to invest, especially on technologies such as AI, cloud and advanced connectivity.
“This cannot be a decade-long endeavour. Europe must act right now on issues like the 5G Toolbox and telco mergers. If Europe gets this right, it’s a massive opportunity. Draghi and Letta already provided the framework. So, let’s act.”
Here is a summary of their calls to action.
