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European Parliament
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Digitising European industry

2016/2271(INI)

The European Parliament adopted by 571 votes to 32, with 35 abstentions, a resolution on digitising European industry, following the Commission’s communication on this subject.

Developing an integrated Industrial Digitalisation Strategy for the EU: Members welcomed the Commission’s communication on digitising European industry, and strongly believed that such a strategy is of critical importance in contributing to solving Europe’s most pressing economic and societal challenges. Such a strategy would, notably:

  • strengthen economic dynamic, social and territorial cohesion;
  • foster quality job creation and reshoring opportunities, by improving working standards and the attractiveness of industrial sector jobs;
  • strengthen European cohesion through a reliable and ambitious European investment policy;
  • support Europe's goals in climate policy by reducing emissions and energy consumption; 
  • strengthen economic, policy and social innovation through the principles of openness and accessibility of public and private data;
  • attract investment and leading researchers and expertise at world level, thus contributing to economic growth and European competitiveness;
  • support new business models and innovative start-ups;
  • solve some of the most pressing challenges in the transport and tourism sectors.

Parliament recommended:

  • putting in place a competitive business environment that facilitates private investment, a build-up of state-of-the-art European digital infrastructure, and an EU coordination structure for the digitisation of industry;
  • accelerating digitisation particularly in those Member States, regions and sectors that are lagging behind and among those people who are affected by the digital divide;
  • ensuring uninterrupted and high-performance connectivity for main transport paths and hubs no later than 2025 and to initiate full coverage all over the EU.

Creating conditions for successful industrial digitisation (infrastructure, investment, innovation and skills): Members felt an integrated industrial digitisation must be based on strong enabling conditions ranging from a first-rate, future-proof digital infrastructure, research and development and an investment-supportive environment to an appropriate innovation-nudging legislative framework.

Parliament stressed the need to:

  • advance public and private investment in high-speed connectivity, for example through 5G, fibre optics, navigation and satellite communications infrastructure;
  • harmonise spectrum allocation, aimed at increasing demand for connectivity and enhancing the predictability of the network investment environment; 
  • establish leadership in key technologies such as 5G, high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), and robotics;
  • ensure that new forms of work must not be used to circumvent existing labour and social legislation as regards the protection of workers’ and consumer rights.

Particular attention should be given to the specific problems encountered by SME’s. Furthermore, the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI) should be better used.

Advancing the digitisation of businesses: Parliament called on the Commission to increase the proportion of Horizon 2020 research projects generating patents and intellectual property rights and to report thereon.

It stressed the need to:

  • safeguard sensitive European technologies and know-how: Members highlighted the potential risks in regard to strategic state and industrial policy-driven foreign direct investment (FDI), particularly by state-owned enterprises by means of mergers and acquisitions;
  • clarify the safety and liability rules for autonomously acting systems, including the conditions for testing with regard to automation, robotics and the application of artificial intelligence in production;
  • adopt a common European cybersecurity approach, particularly the need to advance cybersecurity for the internet of things;
  • strengthen the role that the governing bodies referred to in the Directive on network security (NIS Directive) have in establishing trust in future technologies
  • establish a framework that ensures the free flow of data whilst protecting the ownership of data;
  • monitor the adoption and coherent implementation of the European Cloud Initiative in order to enable the fair, swift, trustworthy and seamless flow and use of data;
  • set out clear rules regarding data management in the framework of contractual relations between businesses ;
  • establish a strong standardisation strategy, including interoperability in the digital domain.

The social dimension (skills, education and social innovation): Parliament is called upon to adequately assess the social effects of industrial digitisation and, as appropriate, to propose further measures to close the digital divide.

A digitisation strategy for businesses should gave a strong social dimension, including the right to training and the implementation of a skills guarantee, and lifelong learning, as well as the integration of digital skills into national education curricula. Employers should make use of the European Social Fund for such training.

All Member States should develop comprehensive national digital skills strategies with targets.

Lastly, the resolution emphasised the importance of investing in the digitisation of vocational training and the skilled crafts sector. Digital skills also need to be combined with engineering skills and the promotion of education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.