Industrial Strategy as a Means for Accelerating the Transition to a Sustainable and Digital Tomorrow

Bianca Dragomir tells us how the EU Commission’s industrial strategy meets the objectives of the European Green Deal

“Ecological transition” – a concept more and more widely spread – represents an essential condition for Europe to reach its sustainable goals. To this end, the European Commission is mobilizing on several fronts – one of which relates to the industrial strategy.

Bianca Dragomir, CEO of AVAESEN, Member of the “European High-Level Roundtable Industry 2030” and European Cluster Manager 2016/18, explains in a video interview how this strategy is a tool that not only aids SMEs, among others, striving for climate neutrality and a circular economy, but also represents one of the fundamental pillars for achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal.

In light of the current economic scenario following the Covid-19 pandemic, one of the actions envisaged by the European industrial strategy is to create common courses of action shared among EU countries, the industrial sector, and reference stakeholders in order to identify the initiatives necessary to implement this shift.

Other interventions are aimed at supporting multinational projects by maximizing investments that fall under the domain of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, particularly towards innovation. Thanks to the partnership with Horizon Europe, the strategy has also proposed another initiative that merges private and public funds to finance research on technologies that would make it possible for businesses to operate smoothly while minimizing CO₂ emissions at the same time.

Within this context, SMEs play a key role in the implementation of the European industrial strategy. In fact, they are the primary engine of innovation within many ecosystems. For this reason, it is crucial that they have access to all the necessary tools available to facilitate their transition towards a greener and digital future.

The European Commission has developed, as part of the plan, “The strategy for SMEs for a sustainable and digital Europe” – aimed at eliminating regulatory obstacles that prevent small and medium-sized enterprises from working towards their vision of attaining resilience through innovation. To reinforce this principle, a Sustainability Consultant was set up with the task of educating SMEs on the numerous solutions and challenges that can emerge on their way to realizing their sustainability goals.

SMEs can also rely on the approach proposed by the European Commission, based on ecosystems. This is a “habitat” in which SMEs can come together to communicate with each other and with customers, cities, investors and industries, with the aim of testing their solutions, collaborating across sectors and projecting their future goals.

The European Commission has identified 14 industrial ecosystems that include every participant in the value chain. Thanks to this approach, SMEs are encouraged to always be innovative and proactive when interpreting the changing needs of their respective sectors.

Watch Bianca Dragomir’s interview to discover more about the European industrial strategy.