The three keys to strengthening European competitiveness without losing its values: investment, effective regulation and innovative ecosystems.

Global competition in technology has become a geostrategic power game. While the United States and China fight their own particular battle for world hegemony, Europe is facing its own dilemma: how to be competitive without renouncing its values and without being relegated to a secondary role in the great digital transformations?

Experts agree on the verdict: technological autonomy is not just a desire, but an urgent necessity if Europe wants to preserve its economic and political sovereignty in an interconnected world. This is what they said at the DigitalES Summit 2025, at a round table on the technological challenge facing the Old Continent. moderated by Marimar Jiménez, journalist of Cinco Días.

The data reflect an uncomfortable reality. Europe has lost weight in the global digital economy. Its share of revenues in the technology sector fell from 22% to 18% in the last decade.The United States rose to 38% and China to 11%. In areas such as cloud computing, dependence is evident: three U.S. giants – Amazon, Microsoft and Google – dominate more than 70% of the European market.

Carlota ReynersThe European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition was categorical: “Europe must be competitive, resilient and strategically autonomous”. And for this, competition policy, far from being a brake, can be a catalyst. The Commission, he said, is committed to revising the merger control rules, to promoting the IPCEI (Important Projects of Common European Interest) and firmly implement the Digital Markets Act to limit the power of large digital gatekeepers.

However, Reyners admitted that the key is to simplify the simplifying bureaucracy and favoring SMEs and tech startups: “If we apply all the tools effectively, Europe still has time to lead the digital transformation,” he said.If we apply all the tools effectively, Europe still has time to lead the digital transformation,” he said.

The eternal debate: More or less regulation?

Judith ArnalThe researcher at the Elcano Royal Institute, defended the need for a European approach based on risk-based regulation, but warned against excessive regulation and its disparate application by the Member States. “The Artificial Intelligence Regulation has sound principles, but its implementation generates uncertainty. We need to avoid regulatory fragmentation and ensure its homogeneous application,” he warned.

Arnal even proposed a single European agency for digital supervisionlearning from the financial sector. And on strategic autonomy, she was categorical: “There will be no autonomy without free markets”. On this point, he insisted that Europe must identify its strengths in global value chains and leverage on them.

From the industry, Ignacio Gallegopresident of Nokia Spain, focused on connectivity infrastructure, one of the few areas where Europe still has global champions such as Nokia and Ericsson.

Gallego defended the need to rely on reliable suppliers to avoid critical dependencies and called for action to accelerate the consolidation of operators: “In Europe we have operators with 5 million customers compared to 300 million in India or 400 million in China. Size matters. Without economies of scale, there is no investment and no innovation. “.

He also warned of the urgency of a common management of the radio spectrum and criticized the slowness of European legislation. “We need a European regulation, not directives that take forever. If we don’t act now, we will miss another technological train,” he concluded.

The power of the public sector as a lever

Patricia UrbezFujitsu’s Public Sector General Manager, highlighted the role of public procurement, which accounts for 14% of European GDP, as a tool for directing demand towards strategic sectors. “Innovative public procurement can be a key driver for developing talent and generating competitiveness,” she explained.

Urbez insisted on the need to maintain openness and international collaboration with reliable partners aligned in values, such as Japan, Canada or Australia. “We have to generate leadership from competitiveness and not from positive discrimination. Staying internal just for the sake of being internal without being competitive is not enough because we will lose our competitiveness,” he defended.

Although the discussion is mainly European, there is a unique opportunity for Spain in this context of technological redefinition. The geographical position, the leadership in fiber deployment and the existence of emerging technology hubs make Spain a natural candidate to be the digital node of southern Europe.

But, as the experts pointed out, for Spain to play that role it needs to to make a firm commitment to its own technology industry, attract investment in R&D and ensure a competitive regulatory framework. Urbez summed up the idea: “Technology is power. If we are not autonomous, we will be vulnerable”.

 

European champions or protectionism?

Is it possible to create technological giants in Europe as Airbus is in aviation? Carlota Reyners believes so, provided that support for growth is balanced with respect for competition. The Commission, he assured, is vigilant to avoid abuses without slowing down innovation.

Europe’s recipe is to combine respect for its values (privacy, fundamental rights) with the creation of a favorable environment for industrial development and investment. As summarized by Judith Arnal, it’s about industrializing digitization, not just digitizing industry.

The experts stressed that the strategic autonomy so often invoked in Brussels does not mean autarky. They agreed that Europe cannot and should not renounce free trade or global value chains, but it must secure critical positions in key sectors, from artificial intelligence to telecommunications networks, including satellite infrastructures and undersea cables.

In this regard, Reyners explained that the Commission is reinforcing programs such as Horizon Europe and specific initiatives for the security of essential infrastructures, aware of their vulnerability in a world where technology is also a battlefield.

All analyses indicate that coordinated action between Brussels and the Member States, regulatory simplification, massive investment in R&D and market-oriented industrial policies are needed.

In a world where technology is power, Europe’s digital autonomy will be the key to its competitiveness… or its irrelevance.

Watch the full video of the talk again here: