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

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 , it 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.