The European Commission has announced its plans to digitise European industry, as part of its goal to create a digital single market.

The focus of the plan is to connect national initiatives to form a network of related services so that digitisation can occur near-simultaneously. The new measures also single out the development of 5G communication technologies, in the hope that this will accelerate research and development on the continent.

Commissioner for the digital economy and society Günther H Oettinger said that the plans are a crucial step to move European industry forward: “Europe has a very competitive industrial base and is a global leader in important sectors. But Europe will only be able to maintain its leading role if the digitisation of its industry is successful and reached fast. Our proposals aim to ensure that this happens. It requires a joint effort across Europe to attract the investments we need for growth in the digital economy.”

In their announcement of the new strategy, the commission highlighted that there has been a lack of uptake on the part of European industry to embrace digital opportunities, and argued that this needs to occur across sectors, particularly those areas such as SMEs and the construction industry, which are particularly lagging behind.

Among the additional plans are the construction of a new, pan-European network of innovation centres and the adoption of future-proof legislation to support technological developments. According to the commission’s figures, it is expected that more than €50bn of public and private investment will be mobilised by the measures.

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