Respond, Recover, Reinvent – the digital sector’s recommendations to tackle the effects of COVID-19
DIGITALEUROPE today published its new recommendations on how to safeguard the digital eco-system in Europe, and how our society and economy can become more resilient to future crises by enhancing digital infrastructure and skills.
The recommendations include short-, medium- and long-term measures: Respond. Recover. Reinvent. They were developed by DIGITALEUROPEs 35,000 digital member companies, with input from the newly-formed Executive Advisory Group on COVID-19. The group brings together top executives from a broad cross-section of our membership, from established multinationals to fast-growing scale-ups.
On Tuesday 20 April the group presented the recommendations to Commissioner Breton and on Friday 24 April we will present them to Executive Vice-President Vestager.
Director-General of DIGITALEUROPE, Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, said:
“Digitisation makes companies more resilient. That is a fact. Our businesses are striving day and night to support our employees, customers, suppliers and our local communities during these unprecedented and challenging times.
But digital companies, especially smaller ones, are also struggling in this crisis. They need bold, radical action now to stay afloat and to safeguard European innovation in the digital age after the crisis.
Furthermore, we need to secure a strong digital infrastructure and to allow for crucial ICT and electronics workers, goods and services to flow across borders.
We also need to harness the power of digital technologies to improve the health of citizens. We support the acceleration of plans for a European health data space and the use of virus tracing solutions to break the chain of Coronavirus transmission. It goes without saying that they must respect privacy rules and the GDPR.
In this crisis Europe must act as one. Viruses know no national borders. Luckily, neither do digital technologies.”
Summary of recommendations
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Respond [short-term actions]
- Urgently boost liquidity and provide financial support to SMEs
- Ensure the free flow of vital ICT goods and maintenance workers
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Recover [medium-term actions]
- Harness power of European health data and Coronavirus contact tracing apps, whilst respecting privacy
- Encourage safe remote working solutions, for example with guidance and support on data privacy and cybersecurity
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Reinvent [long-term actions]
- Put digital transformation at the centre of the next EU budget
- Integrate the proposed stimulus packages with the European Green Deal
- Accelerate roll-out of high capacity and secure networks across the continent
DIGITALEUROPE’s COVID-19 response recommendations
Background
The recommendations were developed based on discussions of our Executive Advisory Group on COVID-19, a new high-level taskforce created by DIGITALEUROPE to gain insights on how Coronavirus is affecting digital businesses on the ground.
On 20 April this Group presented the recommendations to Commissioner Thierry Breton. On 24 April they will meet with Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager.
