Ericsson and Nokia made an urgent call to Europe’s industry and policymakers to take certain steps to secure the continent’s digital future, as part of a summit organised by the vendor giants.

The New Industrial Ambition for Europe summit, held in Brussels today (16 January), is being hosted by Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark (pictured, right) and his counterpart at Ericsson Borje Ekholm (pictured, left), with support from bosses of SAP and ASML, Christian Klein and Christophe Fouquet, respectively.

In a statement, the vendor duo explained the summit aims to “catalyse momentum” across the European Union to implement actions required to deliver future digitalisation success, including a more supportive regulatory environment and making the region more attractive to investors.   

Senior European political figures are in attendance, including representatives from European Commission, the deputy Minister of Digital Affairs for Poland, Dariusz Standerski, and former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta.

A key focus of the summit will be the findings of two reports penned in 2024 by Letta and Mario Draghi, the former president of the European Central Bank.

Both studies included observations about the European telecoms sector and included calls for more consolidation.

In the morgue
To “secure Europe’s tech future”, Ericsson and Nokia said the two reports had provided the framework for the situation to improve and their calls must now be implemented.

The companies argue for strengthened R&D; reduced and simplified regulation; reformed competition and M&A guidelines; alignment of environmental goals; clear targets for 5G deployment; and enforcing fair business practices.

Lundmark said “Europe’s competitiveness already has one foot in the morgue”, but added there is an opportunity “to turn this tanker around”.

“Europe must create an environment in which businesses want to invest, especially on technologies such as AI, cloud and advanced connectivity,” he said.

Ekholm added Ericsson already invests “disproportionally more in R&D in Europe”, and if “other regions continue to race ahead, this model cannot survive”.