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EU ‘way of life’ at stake in tech revolution, says innovation head

Earma 2021: Companies’ ability to compete described as “existential topic for Europe”

The director of the agency that administers the EU’s funding scheme to support the growth of R&D-based small companies has said the bloc must be a front-runner in the next innovation wave, if it is to avoid its way of life being shaped by leading companies based elsewhere.

“The running tech revolution that we have in front of us will hugely impact the way we live,” Jean-David Malo, director of the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency, said at the annual conference of the European Association of Research Managers and Administrators on 20 April.

“If we are not able to have a number of European companies that are leading in this dimension, it will change also our way of life…the DNA of who we are,” said Malo, who stressed the importance of the EIC in spearheading such developments: “This is something that we should be very careful about.”

Malo said the EU’s ability to stay abreast of global competitors on technological developments would have an impact “well beyond the innovation ecosystem”—a message echoed by other research leaders in the session.

Antti Vasara, president of the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations, said that technological leadership was “one of these existential topics for Europe”, and that power would concentrate in countries with companies that are able to compete.

“We’ve been in this internet and mobile era for a long time and now we’re going into the deep-tech era,” said Vasara, adding that “the commercial opportunities are huge”. 

Research Professional News is the official media partner for Earma 2021. Follow more of our coverage on Twitter @ResProfNews and @ResearchEurope, #EARMADigital.