Dipl.-Ing., Dipl.Wirt.-Ing.(FH) Kurt B. König , Frankfurt am Main, Germany
„An uncompetitive economy is only worth half as much”
[1] A saying from the author
4 Four principles for an industrial policy. 6
7 The state as a buyer of the products of start ups. 8
10 Cloud certification for cybersecurity. 10
11 Merger control: an obstacle. 10
12 Advertising the location. 10
13 Step up research in military technologies. 11
16 New aspects for learning. 13
17 Artificial Intelligence. 14
1 Introduction
This paper looks at the role of the state in promoting ‘competitiveness’. Europe’s current competitiveness is poor!
A profound structural crisis can be observed in Germany. The focus in current discussions is on the issue of reducing costs for Germany as an industrial location. High energy prices in Germany are one typical example for this debate. However, simply reducing costs will not make a significant contribution to the strengthening of Germany’s competitiveness. Also worth noting is that the reduction in energy costs is being considered mainly for existing industries. This means that this policy focuses on preservation of current industry sectors.
Other factors need to be considered.
One important indicator for competitiveness are patents.
Of almost 1,800 patent applications relating to quantum technology, around half came from the USA and only around 70 from Germany. Obviously, good and sometimes excellent basic research is not enough to build an effective research and innovation system.
Likewise, Germany and Europe are also falling behind the USA and China in the field of cancer research.
A third example is the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. Here, German patent applications have fallen from 12.5% to 7% within a decade.
It is proven that science-based patents are more valuable than others. The best percent of scientific publications has a 40-% probability to lead to a patent. For works in the lower half this is almost never the case. IP for shares is an idea recently proposed and should be looked at.
Competitiveness is of crucial importance – probably the singularly most import aspect – for highly industrialised countries when it comes to the question: “How to sustain the high standards of living in globalized markets”.
There cannot be any doubt, that high wages can only be paid if an industrialized country maintains – at least in some fields – a leading edge in high-tech. Germany cannot compete on price.
Currently important high-tech fields include A.I. , quantum technology, neuro science, human genetics a.o.m.. They have a strong transformative dimension, namely A.I. .
At the same time mid- and low-tech should not be neglected.
A second indispensable factor for success on global markets is the ability to scale up new technologies. Germany is too small. Europe cannot agree on building large scale projects. Perhaps the only exception is Airbus Industries. The ongoing discussion on arms production (notably FCAS) shows the lack of will in Europe to agree on joining forces in the field of new technologies, respectively large-scale projects.
Needless to mention, that new technologies are of disruptive nature. Innovation cycles are becoming ever faster. New technologies will never be stopped by regulation. If someone tries, someone else will do it and prevail.
There are only two blocks with the ability to scale up for global markets: the United States and China. Unfortunately, both blocks have assets, which Europe, does not have.
The U.S. have a large single market.
China has a long-term strategy and a large single market.
For example: The single market in the U.S. has benefitted a lot the formation of hyper scalers.
For example: The long-term strategy of China in A.I. is apparently paying off.
The state-backed AI ecosystem in China allows for rapid development and deployment, with a distinct advantage regarding innovation speed.
Europe on the other side had big ambitions for catching up in the battery market for electrical vehicles. Germany, France, Spain, United Kingdom a.o.m. , all of them are planning to build battery factories with huge subventions. But unfortunately, separately and hence, frequently those projects fail(ed).
Industrial policy in Germany and in other Europea countries is coined by subventionist approach. Increasingly, it is not technology open.
Investments in high-tech require a forward-looking factor. An entrepreneurial understanding of microeconomic theory is based on ‘uncertainty’. The available data set can therefore not be regarded as stable. However, entrepreneurial thinking is largely absent from current industrial policy. The more far-reaching industrial policy becomes, the less room there is for innovation. The discussion about technological openness is a good example for this problem.
Ad hoc measures that favour specific sectors (e.g. steel industry) or even specific product groups (e.g. heat pumps) distort competition. These measures are usually introduced in response to similar measures in other countries.
Typically, large projects, to which high visibility is given by the political class or where it is possible to draw lines on the map (e.g. Trans-European Networks) or lighthouse projects are supported.
Furthermore, industrial policies in Europe are missing a long-term perspective. The state is not good at finding tomorrow’s winners. But yesterday’s losers are good at finding the state. With the result that the resource „public money“ is ill allocated. In other words, interventions helping to adapt to master transformation are welcome. However, interventions aiming at the preservation of (old) industries should be taken with prudence. Competition hardens companies.
The other main trait of the role of the state concerns the setting of framework conditions. This is about taxation, cutting red tape, better education, digitalisation, less bureaucracy to mention the more important aspects. Setting of framework conditions right is crucial of importance.
As said, this paper focuses on the “Role of the State” to foster competitiveness. However, it is deliberately not addressing the classical aspects of “setting the framework conditions”.
Reading textbooks about „Competitiveness“ have left me with the idea, that there ought to be something else, some other ideas, than the “classical” aspect of setting the framework conditions.
This does not imply that those textbooks say something wrong. On the contrary.
However, what worries me is the approach of industrial policy especially in Germany, which I follow since a couple of decades.
Was it successful?
Ultimately, it is about making the best possible use of government resources to support the competitiveness of industry. Should public funds be allocated directly (as subsidies) into certain companies or even certain products? What are the most appropriate measures to promote the competitiveness of your industry?
The following sections describe a few ideas as to what the state could/should do to foster competitiveness.
It is not claimed that the ideas presented are new. They represent the essence of various specialist articles, articles in quality newspapers and business journals with one or the other idea added by the author.
Hence, the chief interest of the present paper is to assemble them in a succinct manner.
2 Rule based economics
The rules-based system has led to an interconnected global economy, fostering a worldwide division of labour and the specialisation in production chains leading to lower prices and higher outputs. Worldwide living standards have nearly tripled with no major war over the past seven decades.
However, the rule based economic system founded during the post-World War II period is coming under increasing strain by autocratic states. It appears to be true: playing in accordance with the rules means losing!
Europe’s situation of dependence from other players, does not leave good choices.
- Semi-conductors: dependence from Taiwan and South Corea.
- Cloud: dependence from US companies.
- Artificial intelligence: dependence from US companies.
- Rare earths: dependence from China.
- Arms: dependence from US companies.
All these areas bear the potential of economic pressure and come increasingly to play since a few years.
As mentioned earlier, China has a well-defined long term economic/industrial strategy. Solar panels are one example of the past which has caused the decline of European manufacturers. Another example concerns battery cells. Despite of leading-edge research for battery cells (for example in Germany), China is the world market leader for electrical cars. The long-term strategy in China has permitted the battery industry in China to sustain losses for a period of 15 years (of research and development of the cells). China’s strategy was and continues to be to become independent from foreign suppliers and to attain a dominant position vis-à-vis foreign client.
Furthermore, a long term industrial strategy brings advantages for the learning curve.
The numerous formal proceedings against companies from the magnificent seven (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla) speak a clear language on the market powers and are the critical dependency of Europe’s industry from those platform providers.
The above-mentioned examples present systemic risks, which are not in line with the principles of a rule-based economy and cannot be handled by the market. Companies should compete based on their competence, their technology and price. If this is not warranted corrective measures by the state need to be considered.
Europe has only one chance to stand together. Despite the (proclaimed) “completion of the internal market” there are still many barriers leading to fragmentation in many sectors. Albeit with difficulties, Airbus Industries is the only successful in this domain. Europe should prioritize a „Made in Europe“ approach.
The construction of the Future Air Combat System (FCAS), a new combat aircraft system, leaving behind the legacy system Rafale and Eurofighter, is a chance to bring together European arms designers.
The core-cell must be France and Germany. Only if these two countries overcome their industrial disputes, this big challenge can be mastered.
Europe should become the champion of rule-based globalisation. Rule-based trade is attractive to many smaller and mid-sized countries. Foreign development policy should become interest-oriented in line with geo-economic objectives.
3 New industrial policy
A successful policy aiming at the support of competitiveness should focus on sustainability, resilience and creation of eco-systems in the field of high-tech.
Support for the creation of eco-systems should address all facets of the eco-system However, the management effort for such an approach is much greater, it requires more attention to details and hence more personnel and above all, more expertise. The state is currently not well equipped to deliver this kind of support. This also has to do with the development that expertise is increasingly outsourced to agencies or consultants and other specialists and that the public sector is mainly concerned with administration.
Only a limited number of large-scale projects (light house projects) at European level should receive direct financial support.
Another disadvantage of this NEW INDUSTRIAL POLICY, at least from a political point of view, is, that visibility is much lower and it is almost impossible to create nice television images. How often politicians, flanked by industrialists and representatives of associations, like to play coy when cutting ribbons to open major projects.
What are the then tools? They are well known! Creation of spaces where different actors can meet, matchmaking and clustering, the support of targeted connections between the actors, the availability of market data and foresight, the promotion of the introduction of new technologies, coaching, advice, finance and in particular support for small and medium-sized companies in adopting new technologies.
Availability of data at all levels of the economy, down to the smallest detail lead to optimal (best possible) control of asset deployment, much better than centrally orchestrated policy or even a planned economy. Where this detailed data is lacking, misallocations occur.
Europe must create a culture which rewards risk taking and is technology friendly. Failure is to be seen as part of the process.
4 Four principles for an industrial policy
First, there must be a strong coordination at European level. The base for this can only be France and Germany joining forces. The objective is not to create national champions, but to develop European level supply chains based on the comparative advantages of the member countries.
Second, a horizontal approach for the industrial policy should not be focused on an individual technologies or companies, but on the development of an eco-system responding to solve the problems of missing capabilities for given tasks, e.g. for intelligent networked combat systems.
Thirdly, industrial policy must be ambitious. It must be aimed at cutting-edge technologies.
Fourthly, state intervention is systematically subject to a requirement to provide justification.
5 Promoting innovation
The Oslo Manual defines innovation as the implementation of a new or significantly improved product, process, or business method that differs substantially from previous versions and has been made available to users or brought into use by a firm. This broad definition covers product, process, marketing, and organizational innovations and serves as an international standard for collecting and interpreting innovation data.
A cross-disciplinary innovation ecosystem should be promoted by the state. Policy can help to prepare and to promote such an ecosystem.
To return to the example of quantum technology, the role of the state should be to draw up a roadmap, provide targeted support for innovation centres (not the innovation topic itself) and facilitate access to research infrastructure. However, this requires a long-term perspective.
6 Clustering
Common issues for start-ups include unclear or flawed business models, inadequate business development, and insufficient capital.
Interestingly, these challenges can be addressed when companies developing similar products or services cluster geographically. Such proximity facilitates easier promotion to investors, access to shared knowledge and expertise, and reduced costs in sourcing skilled human capital. This is what “agglomeration” or “clustering,” means, and it offers a supportive startup ecosystem.
The concept of clustering has existed since the 1990s, building upon earlier ideas of geographic concentration. Clusters are regions where interconnected companies and institutions co-locate for collaboration and competition. This setup offers advantages like exclusive market insights and swift responsiveness to consumer preferences, it can also lead to uninformed perspectives and restricted market views.
The development of a trilateral network of organizational links between university, government and industry in which university (and similar research and educational institutions) should be regarded as the main source where knowledge is being generated and from which it is being spread. In order to be able to commercialize the results of research activities, to link up with industrial processes and to support the growth of new firms, it is necessary to develop an entrepreneurial spirit of the university. Government should provide some strategic guidelines for development of a sectorial and a regional economy of the country, by implementing a number of direct and indirect economic measures and by ensuring financing sources of R&D activities. Government should also be responsible for launching of R&D projects of special importance for the country, particularly when their high financial standards cannot be met without financial help of the government. The role of the firms should be to concentrate their resources on the commercial part of R&D activities.
7 The state as a buyer of the products of start ups
What a start-up needs is not subsidies but turnover. Government funding for artificial intelligence is widely distributed. This does little or nothing to help start-ups reach the growth phase.
The state as a buyer presents a true incentive for companies to buy as well from the start up. It creates confidence and provides a leverage effect for the new company. Private investors can thus generate many multiples of the value of the government’s order.
8 Sub-contracting
The significance of supply-chains has been highlighted by recent discussions on rule-based global economy.
There are several persistent challenges in the relationship between large buyers and small or medium-sized suppliers (SMEs). These issues often stem from power imbalances, financial pressures, and operational constraints.
SMEs often lack the scale to negotiate favourable terms, especially when dealing with large corporations that dominate the market.
More recently, supply chains have come under strain. Global supply are menaced by tendencies to depart from rule-based international trade. In the just-in-time world global supply chains can be disrupted for example by broken traffic routes.
In a relationship between buyer and supplier, the buyer ‘demands’ a cost reduction of typically 7% per year. If the cost pressure becomes too high for the supplier, this is at the expense of its innovative strength.
One of the factors which often come to the disadvantage of the sub-contractor are excessive payment delays. The duration of supply contracts for developments by the supplier should allow for amortisation of development costs.
When it comes to innovation, often, a large part of the innovation can be attributed to the supplier(s). Financial constraints and lack of investor support can hinder SMEs from adopting new technologies or improving their operations. Weakening of the supplier means weakening of the supply chain.
In sectors like agriculture, small suppliers may be forced to sell below production costs or face contract terms that heavily favour buyers.
Post-pandemic data shows that small suppliers have faced bankruptcy rates up to four times higher than large firms due to financial pressures.
SMEs often struggle with reduced visibility into customer demand and are pressured to adapt quickly to changes, which strains their resources. This will result in operational challenges like short lead times and demand volatility.
Many SMEs rely on a limited number of buyers, making them vulnerable to sudden order cancellations or aggressive price negotiations.
What Can Help?
Improved payment terms and collaborative partnerships can ease financial stress.
Government support and producer cooperatives (especially in the EU) are helping small suppliers to strengthen their position.
An interaction between two or more chain members working together to create a competitive advantage through sharing information, making joint decisions, and sharing benefits which result from greater profitability of satisfying end customer needs than acting alone.
The status of the functioning of supply chains hence can change quite rapidly. An entity which would provide up-to-date information would be beneficial. Data gathering should be best organised and European level and must be sector specific.
Overall, it is therefore important to ensure a fair and balanced relationship between buyer and supplier. The state could keep a watchful eye here and intervene to correct the situation if necessary.
9 The state as a catalyst
Statistics show poor results for Germany in terms of spin-offs from German universities. Arithmetically, German universities produce 4.7 start-ups per 100 million annual budget, compared to 8.2 start-ups on average in the EU. Accordingly, Germany has a large potential for growth. One of the hindering factors is the use of intellectual property rights that originated at the university. Universities want to be financially compensated for any patents or new technology. Or they want to retain the patents and license them to the founders for a fee. Often, the founders cannot afford these payments and the patents remain unused. Clear rules are needed for the transfer of intellectual property.
It is often ignored what the state can do to lift over the threshold of first prototypes developed by – sometimes – visionary spin-offs. Equally, it is often true that the innovation engine does not start without help. Equity funds and business angels only get in if the see a good business case.
Only a quarter of German start-ups reach the growth phase compared to 40% in the USA. The growth rate in the U.S. over the last two decades was 50%, whereas in Europe it was 20%.
Seed investment and early-stage financing work in Germany. Bringing high-tech into production means, above all, ‘lots of cash needed.’
Palantir, for example, took 6–7 years to generate its first significant revenues.
In Germany, start-ups with low and medium technology content have better chances of receiving financing all the way through.
Building global high-tech companies costs billions. Fusion technology is a good example. Building a fusion power plant would cost two billion rather than one. Germany has built up substantial expertise in the areas of research, development and industrialisation of fusion technologies. But it is much more likely that the necessary investment will ultimately come from the United States rather than from Germany or Europe. Disruptive technologies have little chance in Europe.
10 Cloud certification for cybersecurity
A common scheme for cloud certification in Europe is a cornerstone for our digital sovereignty. But Europe does not have a cloud of a size that would justify a common certification system. The European cloud landscape is fragmented. High standards based on the French model would de facto exclude American cloud providers. US laws stand in the way of this.
Whether the European Interest on Next Generation Cloud Infrastructure and Services (IPCEI – Important Project of Common European Interest : https://www.8ra.com/ipcei-cis/ ) will fill the gap remains to be seen.
11 Merger control: an obstacle
European merger control is seen as an obstacle to the consolidation of space activities in Europe. A rethink is required for large company mergers. There are many reservations, not only in sensitive areas such as aerospace and military goods. The fragmentation of the European market means incompatibility and difficulties in operational cooperation. Fragmentation in these areas are further examples of the incomplete single market.
With the exception of Airbus, it seems impossible to solve core issues such as industrial leadership, patents and the distribution of research and production. Change is required.
12 Advertising the location
The choice of location is a decisive factor for the establishment of industry. The state can play an important role here. A welcome package for the recruitment of start-ups is required. Helping to establish contacts to the business world, help with accessing funding programs, access to finance, advice at reasonable price, to find the ways within the German start-up ecosystem and a hands-on mentality for the first steps of a company are just a few useful aspects.
Leadership consists of communicating opportunities and perspectives, recognizing problems and sowing confidence. Our welfare is not given but hard-earned. A positivity that includes the willingness to change is required. Success is based on a high willingness to change.
There is a window of opportunities to attract top US scientist. The government should pro-actively create the conditions to attract them to come to Germany. Regarding talent management in general it is important to create and enlarge the pool of A.I. experts. Financial incentives should be considered, but more importantly a rethinking of the relationship between the private sectors and the universities for research cooperations is needed. (more on A.I. in chapter 17).
13 Step up research in military technologies
Considerable amounts of money have been earmarked for the procurement of military equipment. So far, only a small percentage, estimated to 2bn €, goes into research and development. This number should be increased to 6bn €. Experts expect considerable spillover effects creating added value for the macroeconomy. History has numerous examples of technologies developed for military purposes but with spill over to civil usages (dual use) as for example, GPS, microwave a.o.m. The state has a track record to direct those amounts to existing companies. However, it would be more beneficial to invest in startups with a strong development capacity. Leap frogging one technology generation is more promising than to invest in existing technologies. If the technology developed is deemed fit for the purpose, the state should act as a buyer. This would lower the risk that others would take over the technology and the company.
Standardisation is extremely strategic. This is often ignored. In the public eye, standardisation is often perceived as a driver of increased bureaucracy. However, the aim of standardisation is precisely the opposite.
Two main objectives of standardisation can be identified:
- Facilitating the exchange of goods and services;
- Implementing regulatory requirements precisely and practically.
Standardisation thus acts as an instrument of deregulation. It should also be noted that standards are reviewed for relevance after five years at the latest and withdrawn if necessary. The number of DIN standards therefore remains relatively stable.
For many decades DIN (Deutsches Institut für Normung) has dominated the standardisation arena. DIN standards were decisive for access to world markets.
This is history now. China has understood that having the grip on standards is key for the global economic competition. As part of China’s long-term industrial policy, active participation in international standardisation has become a mainstay. Chinese experts are actively seeking the chairmanship of technical ISO-committees.
Four-fifths of standards today are international standards. This clearly demonstrates the importance of international standardisation work. Europe’s active participation in international standardisation processes is therefore of great importance. China pursues a top-down approach with clearly defined long-term goals. For example, the goal of becoming the leader in quantum technology in ten years. At the same time, China is investing specifically in research and development in these technologies. A key advantage of this combined approach is the generation of patents through research. The new technologies underlying patents are often the basis or prerequisite for setting standards.
Therefore, the triangle formed by ‘standards’, ‘innovative technologies’ and ‘patents’ is of great importance. More study should be dedicated for a better understanding of this triangle.
In democratic states, it seems difficult to set such long-term, top-down goals as this is the case for China.
Standardization is important in many ways. Interoperability is a particularly important aspect. Interoperability ensures that incompatibilities are avoided. Standardization, for example, is crucial for the development and implementation of an A.I.-Infrastructure. The 16 different school platforms in the federal states point to the costs and inefficiency of such fragmentation.
A companion document provides more details on interoperability [1].
15 Modular SYSTEMS
Modular construction is a process in which a building is constructed off-site, under controlled plant conditions, using the same materials and designing to the same codes and standards as conventionally built facilities – but in about half the time.
The idea of modular construction promoted by the state can increase competitiveness in other areas. In more general terms modularized production processes can help to adapt to market changes. This eases market introduction and the scaling up of product capacity. State-funded basic research is another important lever.
The modularity concept can and should be also applied toother sectors.
The real production revolution will only begin when small and medium-sized enterprises also have access to new technology. Modular, cost-effective and easily programmable systems can facilitate this access and enable new business models. Programmes should specifically involve small and medium-sized enterprises and regional innovation networks.
16 New aspects for learning
TECHNICAL AND NATURAL SCIENCE
The interest to study technical and engineering programmes, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and other natural sciences should be strongly promoted.
GAMIFIED LEARNING
A successful technology training programme combines theory and practice right from the start. Gamified learning is a good method for achieving exactly that.
Students should also be given the opportunity to use AI tools and software used by leading companies in case studies. Students benefit greatly when they are confronted with real industry challenges early and often. To this end, industry experts and students should be brought together to work on the case studies. Industry can also benefit from this by gaining an early insight into the very rapid developments in AI.
PROMPTING
Prompting refers to the practice of crafting inputs (called „prompts“) to communicate effectively with AI language models It is essentially how you ask questions or give instructions to get the best possible responses.
A prompt can be anything from a simple question like „What’s the weather like?“ to detailed instructions for complex tasks like „Write a business proposal for a sustainable energy company, including market analysis, financial projections, and implementation timeline.“
The goal is to bridge the gap between what a person is thinking and what the A.I. understands. Good prompting is part art, part science – it improves with practice as you learn what works best for different types of tasks.
Prompting should be taught at schools.
VIBECODING
Everyone should learn programming at school today. For many, however, hard coding is not necessary or not achievable.
Vibecoding stands for a programme which is created through interaction with AI. One needs to know the tools and how to work with them. Nevertheless, a certain basic understanding of the syntax of a programming language is always helpful.
ENGLISH FOR ALL TECHNICAL STUDIES
At universities all technical and engineering degree programmes, mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology should be taught in English.
17 Artificial Intelligence
Owing to its strong industrial sector, Germany needs to set up a strategy to become the pioneer for industrial A.I. While it is pointless for Germany to invest yet in another LLM, industry data across sectors should be used as training data. Furthermore, the introduction of A.I. to medium-sized businesses has been neglected so far. The wide distribution of subsidies should be replaced by tax-incentives to integrate solutions of start-ups. Start-ups need revenues not subventions.
Whereas U.S. digital giants concentrate their A.I. effort on the relationship with the end-user, Germany has a good standing in industrial A.I. . However, efforts for the creation of standards are not enough. For an eco-system for industrial A.I. semi-conductors, edge computing and cyber security are indispensable. The state should promote these key technologies through the setting of innovation-friendly framework conditions. Planning security is of essence in this connection. It is not the sate but the companies which create innovation. German companies could occupy niches at central place of global value creation chain for example in mechanical and plant engineering, robotics and medical technology. German industry sits on valuable data assets allowing them to develop highly specialised platforms which foster efficiency of production chains. APIs offer the possibility for external developers to create specific applications. In other words, integrate innovation from outside to scale up more rapidly.
The rules for the exploitation of data assets must be eased. This is hindered by to strict regulations. Instead of rules which ex-ante define high requirements for the development of A.I., it is to be preferred to regulate improper behaviour during use-time. For example to classify a ceran cooking field with A.I.-controlled sensors as high-risk, should not occur.
The German government is already supporting initiatives like Manufacturing-X which aim at the definition of standardised data models.
The basis for making A.I. successful in Europe exist. There are many renowned European researchers. New A.I. centres of excellence are on its way. What is missing is one European level institution which brings it all together and which provides the infrastructure and the finance enabling groundbreaking progress for a trustworthy A.I. in Europe.
A concerted effort by the government and the business community, with sufficient financial resources over the next five to seven years, is required.
18 More tax auditors
The German government increased its revenue by a good €13 billion in 2023 through tax audits. A tax auditor generates an average of around €1 million per year in additional revenue for the state – and that is an impressive figure. Across all farm sizes, the probability of inspection is 2.4%. This corresponds to an average inspection frequency of 40 years.
Over 6,800 positions in tax offices were vacant at the end of 2023. Experts estimate that this is costing the state billions in potential revenue.
19 Conclusion
We have discussed several measures the state could take to foster the competitiveness of its industries. A new approach for an industrial policy is needed. Whereas some positive initiatives haven been taken (e.g. SPRIND- https://www.sprind.org/ ) the subventionist approach is still prevailing.
Germany lacks a grand plan. Measures are often piecemeal. There is a lack of projects at European level that have prospects of success on global markets.
A rigorous policy favouring new technologies accompanied by appropriate financial means is required. Resources, financial, organisational and expertise are limited. What is needed is a clear focus on sectors in which Europe can play to its strengths.
France and Germany must take the lead. Their industrial differences must be overcome.
The issue of competitiveness should be at the heart of policies. A strong industrial core must be preserved at all costs.
[1] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/data-interoperability-act-dia-kurt-koenig/?trackingId=QlevrJjq1dtLLKM1NdQk8w%3D%3D