‘The moment has come for the so-called new member states (like Bulgaria) to do what we do best – embrace change, modernise our industries and leap where other countries have slowly crawled. We have done it before – most recently with the development of internet infrastructure, which resulted in us still having the fastest internet connection in Europe.’ said EPP/GERB MEP Eva Maydell in the final plenary session on the report on the Digitisation of European Industry.
A former EPP rapporteur to the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, Ms Maydell argued that the lack of digital competencies in the workforce should be a main priority for the administration. ‘Digital skills are the main driver for progress in the 21st century and I am relieved to see that the Parliament’s conclusions reflect that. Along with added-value investment in digital infrastructure, the modernisation of industry needs qualified personnel to actually carry out the process. 40% of EU workers do not currently have the skills to do that’
‘It is important to have a serious conversation about digitisation. Over a third of industrial production growth is down to digital technologies being slowly but surely embedded into its DNA.The future is already happening – according to research by the European Commission, if we do this right, we can expect an increase in annual revenue of almost €100 billion!’