A European Union (EU) report obtained by Politico reveals that Europe is lagging behind other regions, including the US, South Korea and China, in digitisation – bringing robots into services and jobs – underlining the need for Europe to act fast to remain globally competitive, on Monday, the 13th of January, reports Politico.
The European Commission estimates that the bloc has an average of 22 robots per 1 000 employees, fewer than the US, which has 29.
South Korea is ahead of all other regions in the world, with 101 robots per 1 000 employees, the document said.
The report is part of the forthcoming Competitiveness Compass, which aims to strengthen the EU economy to compete with other regions of the world, but its publication was delayed because President Ursula von der Leyen is suffering from severe pneumonia.
The document entitled “2025 Report on the Single Market and Competitiveness” was first reported by Bloomberg.
In the document, the EU executive expressed concern about its technology sector, pointing out that the EU’s share of the global market for technology and digital services has halved (to 10.8%) in the last decade, while the US share has increased by a third (to 38%).
The EU has only 263 unicorns – start-ups worth more than one billion US dollars – a fraction of the 1 539 unicorns in the US and also behind China’s 387.
These figures highlight the problems in Europe, with “companies struggling to scale up” and “venture capital still playing a much smaller role than in competitor countries”, according to the text, which is largely based on Mario Draghi’s plan to combat Europe’s declining competitiveness.
It warns that digitalisation is happening “but not yet at a sufficient pace”.