We do not have an innovation problem in Europe, we have a scalability problem: fragmented procurement systems, unaligned tax incentives and a heavy regulatory burden estimated at 500 billion euro annually1 - capital that could have strengthened innovation, productivity and resilience.
Big and small companies scale and grow outside Europe; now we have an opportunity to reverse this trend and give our industrial leaders the scale they need.
Getting the business-to-business (B2B) part of the digital simplification package right is essential. Europe must ease compliance costs and create European level governance structures for investment, incentives and procurement of critical and dual technologies.
We spend too much time focusing on the few areas where we depend on others rather than on nurturing companies where others rely on Europe
Let us start in the area where we need European solutions the most to protect infrastructure such as airports, hospitals, water, energy and communications.
The digital simplification package must remove the barriers that prevent European companies from creating jobs and prosperity here at home. Our members confirm this urgency. Only 8% feel positive about Europe’s business outlook compared to 30%, in 2023. Compliance costs have risen by 12% in a single year.
Our focus is placing the B2B not the consumer rules at the centre of the digital simplification package, this is where Europe’s digital strengths lie. Risk has been covered by sectorial and product regulation for decades, and any upcoming new digital regulations must be built in rather than subject to extra requirements.
Our three main asks aim to strengthen European tech leadership. First, the Data Act should encourage, not force, companies to share industrial data. European firms compete globally by developing data driven innovations: vaccines, cancer treatments, energy and water saving solutions, autonomous mobility, and cyber defence. Forcing companies to give away valuable data in a market with limited scale and risk capital will push value outside Europe.
The digital simplification package must remove the barriers that prevent European companies from creating jobs and prosperity here at home
Second, cloud switching rules must respect legacy and future contracts, and support customised business agreements, as the nature of a B2B contracts is fundamentally different than for B2C.
The Cyber Resilience Act must reflect real risk levels. Low risk products such as toothbrushes or simple industrial sensors should not treated like high risk technologies, and reporting rules must be harmonised with NIS and DORA, for example.
More than 50 European tech executives have signed the European AI and Critical Tech Declaration, signaling their readiness to invest and scale in Europe. President von der Leyen has endorsed this ambition in Strasbourg during the State of the Union address.
Europe must match it with rules that unlock growth. Let us work together to implement digital simplification in the next 12 months and make bold European scale investments and procurements that bring Europe back as an innovative growth powerhouse.
Let us maintain our global champions and kick off a new growth wave, creating companies, jobs, services and products in Europe.
We lead, scale, succeed and stay in Europe.
- DIGITALEUROPE survey, December 2025: 500 bn euro annually was computed using the 12% increase yearly since 2014, when Mario Draghi estimated compliance costs at 150 bn euro per year
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