Forum Europe partners with Ericsson and Nokia to bring together technology leaders for discussions on reshaping Europe’s digital future

Designed to facilitate strategic dialogue on how connectivity can fuel Europe’s industrial ambitions, the summit brought together leading policymakers and industry executives. Over 200 attendees participated in person, joined by more than 300 virtual delegates via Forum Europe’s online platform. The event’s resonance was clear, with the #connectivity25 campaign reaching nearly 294,000 independent accounts on X.

Headlining the summit were prominent figures, led by Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, European Commission; Börje Ekholm, President & CEO, Ericsson; Pekka Lundmark, President & CEO, Nokia; and Christian Klein, CEO, SAP. The discussions were further enriched by keynote speakers Dariusz Standerski, Secretary of State, Ministry of Digital Affairs, Poland and Antonio López-Istúriz White, Member, European Parliament.

Connectivity for Competitiveness and Security – Europe’s Strategic Edge Panel (Henna Virkkunen, Börje Ekholm, Pekka Lundmark, Christian Klein and Javier Espinoza)

In the opening panel, Connectivity for Competitiveness and Security – Europe’s Strategic Edge, there was a sense of urgency. Acknowledging the widening connectivity gap between Europe and its global counterparts, Henna Virkkunen expressed concern at missed targets and fragmented progress across member states. Issuing a stark warning, Virkkunen lamented on Europe’s reliance on high-risk 5G suppliers for critical infrastructure, and the discursive impacts this could have on Europe’s future.

Virkkunen assessed two key initiatives aimed at revolutionising industry: the Digital Networks Act, to ‘’streamline processes, promote investment and enhance competitiveness through a more single market’’; and the Cloud and AI Development Act, poised to ‘’position Europe as the global leader in AI.’’ To achieve these aims however, Virkkunen noted that investment in infrastructure and efforts to secure and reinforce the resilience of this infrastructure must occur. However, ‘’If we don't embrace innovation and new technologies now, we know that we risk falling behind and also risk our social and economic welfare," she said.

“The GDP gap between The EU and US has widened from 15% to 30% in 20 years. At the same time, and despite recent initiatives on digital transformation, we are behind on essential digital targets and remain very fragmented.’’

"This means missed opportunities in productivity gains and growth. Enhancing Europe's global competitiveness is one of the main priorities for this Commission and we will very soon present our ‘Competitiveness Compass’; our strategy to live up to this priority. Connectivity is the backbone of our digital economy and should enable innovation. Yet, as the Digital Decade Report shows, we are still far from meeting our connectivity goals. Only 64% of our households have access to fibre and only half have high quality 5G coverage. With the current pace of progress, we will not meet our 2030 targets.’’

"The stakes are high. If we don't embrace innovation and new technologies now, we know that we risk falling behind and also risk our social and economic welfare.’’
Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President, Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, European Commission.

Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President, Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, European Commission.

Paving a roadmap forward, industry leaders underscored competitiveness as the key to preserving Europe’s economic stability. Calling for a single market and capital markets union, Ekholm argued that the time to reform competition policies and to consolidate around winners is now.

"We need to be much more aggressive on deregulation. We need to form a single market, including a capital markets union. We need to reform competition policies so we start to consolidate around winners. I think this is fixable, but we're in a hurry to do it because the rest of the world is not standing still. And I think that's why we wanted to get together here to have that sense of urgency.’’
Börje Ekholm, President & CEO, Ericsson

In this urgent pursuit of competitiveness, both Ericsson’s Ekholm and Nokia’s Lundmark urged for aggressive deregulation. For Ekholm, this was particularly salient in the face of agendas across the Atlantic. He pointed to such regulation as a significant reason for diminishing return on investment in Europe, and a widening gap between the US and EU as Trump moves into office. "The situation is serious. The way I would put it is that European competitiveness has one foot in the morgue’’, Lundmark agreed.

"We need to act and we need to act quickly. When it comes to technology, which is of course fundamental in everything Europe has, Europe has a tendency to always first ask that ‘if there is technology X, what is the risk? How can we avoid that risk? We need to regulate because in case there would be something bad…’ the US has a very different approach.’’
Pekka Lundmark, President & CEO, Nokia

Building on the desire to overcome the "reporting and regulation tsunami that European companies are facing’’, Lundmark called for two further priorities. Firstly, to "foster innovation and encourage R&D investment in critical technologies’’; and secondly, acknowledge the interconnection between all cells of society, and the role digital connectivity in particular plays here. Pointing to productivity and innovation across Europe’s traditional industries, "pretty much everything... is nowadays connected. And what we need is high-quality, trusted networks for connectivity [and] industrial productivity’’, he said.

Börje Ekholm (Ericsson) and Pekka Lundmark (Nokia)

Turning to the potential of AI, Klein urged Europe to embrace the technology as a driver of innovation. He asked how Europe is integrating AI into business models to drive innovation and competitiveness, and, crucially, how we are "coming together, that we are not thinking about regulation and risk first, but that we are on the economy side.’’ Indeed, Klein called for courage and confidence in leading the AI revolution through the harmonised EU AI Act and a business oriented approach.

Responding to such requests, Virkkunen committed to finding a balance between regulation and innovation. ‘’I want to cut extra administrative burden and bureaucracy and simplify the processes and implement also now the regulations like the AI act in a very innovative, friendly way’’ she explained.

Asked about how to truly compete with China and the US, panelists continued these themes; touching on the future of innovation, the role of start-ups, the possibility of a true digital single market, and fostered collaboration.

Keynote Panel: Antonio López-Istúriz White and Dariusz Standerski

Keynote interviews from Dariusz Standerski, Secretary of State, Ministry of Digital Affairs in Poland; Antonio López-Istúriz White, Member, European Parliament; and Javier Espinoza, EU Correspondent, Financial Times, built on the momentum of the introductory panel.

Standerski, outlining Poland’s priorities over their presidency of the EU Council, highlighted three key concerns. These started with the importance of cybersecurity. As the most cyber-attacked EU nation, Poland faces 300-600 daily assaults on its critical infrastructure. Standerski pledged to share Poland’s expertise and enhance collective resilience.

Like the panelists prior, AI and its implementation was another key priority. Calling for harmonisation, Standerski said that ‘’When we do it together, we'll have not 2030 independent AI factories, but we will have one strong network of those AI factories.’’ He also reflected on Poland’s previous work in this area, and said that Poland has prepared its AI Act implementation plan as an open-source model for others to learn from and adapt. Finally, Standerski touched on the importance of external relations with ‘’Like-minded partners like Canada, Singapore, Korea, [and] Japan.’’

Antonio López-Istúriz White, echoing visions from the panel, expressed frustration with Europe’s “regulatory overload” and urged a pause on new legislation. He called for harmonising existing regulations, such as the GDPR and AI Act, to reduce conflicts and inefficiencies. In a similar vein, López-Istúriz White warned about the exodus of European tech talent to the U.S. and other regions, calling for attractive ecosystems in Europe to retain talent and foster innovation.

Despite these challenges, both Standerski and López-Istúriz White, acknowledged the opportunities that existed. Standerski drew parallels to past industrial revolutions, noting that latecomers like Germany and France successfully caught up by leveraging subsequent waves of innovation.

Forum Europe expresses its gratitude to all attendees, contributors, and sponsors. In particular, event partners Ericsson and Nokia, and the European Commission.

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