The Download: Funding Europe's Digital Transition - Investing in the future not the past

In this edition of ‘The Download’: Europe must diversify and ramp up its public and private investment in digital to avoid falling further behind the US and China.

We generate more than 20% of global scientific research, yet produce only 8% of the world’s unicorns, and we are falling behind on our technology adoption targets in the Digital Decade strategy.

In a nutshell , the EU should:

• Earmark 25% of the EU budget on digital initiatives, similar to the COVID recovery funds.
• Mobilise public and private sectors to hit our target 3% of EU GDP on Research & Development (R&D).
• Harness all the resources at our disposal, including from the European Investment Bank and coordinated tax breaks. The EU budget alone (only 1% of EU’s gross national income) is not enough.