Numeum and its 2,500 members pave the way for tomorrow’s Digital Europe

In the run-up to the forthcoming European elections, Numeum, France’s leading union of digital companies, has published its manifesto. It calls for a Europe that champions digital technologies in an agile regulatory environment, encouraging innovation and guaranteeing a level playing field for companies of all sizes. Europe’s digital development must therefore be a constant concern for decision-makers, and the European elections of 2024 provide the perfect opportunity to reorientate the EU’s digital priorities for the next five years.

A manifesto for a shift from regulatory inflation to a policy of financing and supporting innovation

In areas as varied as skills, healthcare, cybersecurity and the ecological transition, the recommendations put forward by Numeum and its members in this manifesto are aimed at equipping Europe with a genuine digital industrial policy to accelerate the march towards the digital Europe of tomorrow , and make the continent a key center of innovation and attractiveness in the world.

Training and skills: conditions for growth

At a time when 85% of the jobs that will be filled in 2030 do not exist today, and when the shortage of talent is holding back business growth, Numeum calls on the European Union to :

• strengthen scientific and technical training, particularly for engineers, to prepare them for the jobs of the future
• support training in digital skills, and AI in particular, for businesses, especially VSEs/SMEs
• direct European funding for schools and establishments offering training in digital professions
• support actions carried out in member states to promote the attractiveness of science, and finance programs to promote science learning, particularly among girls
• support vocational training programs for digital professions

Digital technology and the environment: a winning duo

Digital technology is an essential lever for facilitating and accelerating the ecological transition of all sectors of the economy. With this in mind, Numeum calls on the European Union to :

• support existing national expertise and scale it up to European level, following the example of Planet Tech’Care
• support research and investment in digital sobriety, including tax incentives, by bringing together the relevant expertise
• systematize “balance sheet” approaches, through studies and evaluation of use cases to better measure the role of digital technology in the ecological transition, and thus better guide investments

Digitization of European economies: time to move up a gear

To ensure that Europe becomes one of the most digitized areas in the world, Numeum calls on the European Union to :

• create a European fund dedicated to the digitization of economies, either through direct aid to businesses or via the financing of digital services and/or infrastructures to support VSE/SMEs in their digital transformation
• introduce tax incentives to reduce the cost of digitization by 25%.

At the same time, Numeum formulates several levers for increasing innovation funding, including the development and implementation of a Buy European Tech Act.

Start-ups: resources for growth

To help new European technology champions emerge, Numeum calls on the European Union to :

• create a clear, uniform European legislative and regulatory framework
• create a “start-up check” to guarantee a level playing field – create new spaces for deep-tech experimentation beyond national borders
• facilitate access to financing and encourage preferential ordering with large private companies or public decision-makers
• create incentives to encourage companies to enter into contracts with start-ups. Tax incentives could encourage Member States to implement a new form of tax credit or rebate.
• tackling the talent shortage by offering an environment conducive to recruitment
• foster European alliances to create global technology leaders

Strategic autonomy: strong decisions to be made

Against a backdrop of heightened global economic and geopolitical tensions, Europe needs to strengthen its strategic autonomy by focusing on data, technology and infrastructure. To this end, Numeum calls on the European Union to :

• define sensitive data and their appropriate protection
• capitalize on open source, which is a major asset in meeting the challenges of technological independence and ecological transition, notably by facilitating cloud reversibility and portability

Cybersecurity: strength in numbers

In Numeum’s view, cybersecurity issues must accompany the European Union’s digital strategy. In particular, this means strengthening ENISA’s role as coordinator of national cybersecurity agencies, with the aim of helping digital users to prevent attacks and resolve them rapidly when they occur.

Healthcare: the future of healthcare will be digital

To put digital technology at the service of precision medicine and prevention, but also to build an efficient and inclusive care pathway, Numeum calls on the European Union to:

• subsidize e-health research programs in certain cutting-edge technologies, such as digital biomarkers or virtual human twins.
• implement European research programs specific to these technologies to massively support investment and research.