Because good things come in threes, the European Commission (EC) released no fewer than three important documents related to its plans to make Europe “fit for the digital age” on February 19, 2020. These documents include a Communication entitled “Shaping Europe’s Digital Future”, the “European Strategy for Data” and the highly anticipated white paper “On Artificial Intelligence – A European approach to excellence and trust”. In our effort to help app developers, innovators, and digital small and medium enterprises (SMEs) understand the EC’s plans and activities in this area, we will publish a series of blog posts that identify the key takeaways and impacts for our members from each document – so, stay tuned! Here’s a quick overview of what we’ll be writing about:

  1. Communication “Shaping Europe’s Digital Future”. This communication (also dubbed as the ‘digital strategy’) is a broad overarching strategy that addresses the responsibilities of economic players in the digital economy. It touches on a wide variety of issues, ranging from plans for platform regulation and reforming competition rules to reducing the tech sector’s carbon footprint. This Communication sets out the EC’s plans to maximize the benefits of digitization while preserving ‘essential European values of democracy, fairness, and inclusiveness’.
  2. Communication “A European Strategy for Data”. The data strategy lays out a framework for increasing data access between member states and how the EU can help European businesses to capitalize on the use of EU-generated data. The goal is to make the EU a global data hub and to help all EU economic players, including SMEs, start-ups large corporations, and EU citizens, benefit from the use of personal and industrial data.
  3. White Paper “On Artificial Intelligence – A European Approach to Excellence and Trust”. In this white paper, the EC presents the options it is considering for regulating AI. These include a mix of voluntary/optional measures and schemes as well as hard legislation in certain, high risk areas such as health, policing or transportation. The goal is to accelerate the deployment of trustworthy AI for all players, including SMEs.

We welcome the EC’s ambitious strategy to strengthen Europe as a key global digital player and applaud its commitment to making opportunities available in every EU country. We also appreciate the emphasis on European SMEs in all the released documents. Our members are innovative SMEs who build apps, devices, and software in all European countries, and app makers across the European Union will benefit from the Commission’s efforts in this area.