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With winter approaching, Europe has already paid an estimated €50 billion extra for fuel since the Strait of Hormuz crisis began, without securing a single additional barrel — a stark reminder of its exposure to geopolitical volatility. Digital technology is already part of the answer: it’s what lets grids handle more renewable power without breaking down.
This week at DIGITALEUROPE’s Executive Board Strategy Days in Brussels, industry leaders called for one joined-up European response: cheaper home-grown energy, digital grids and serious investment in technologies made in Europe.
DIGITALEUROPE is a Brussels-based technology trade association whose 134 corporate members and 45 national trade associations collectively represent more than 56,000 businesses across Europe. Its leaders also argue that Europe needs to put 25 per cent of the next EU budget into critical technologies.
At the meeting, industry executives presented their recommendations on electrification, grid digitalisation and investment to Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth Wopke Hoekstra.
Europe needs to electrify — and fix its grids
DIGITALEUROPE is calling for a binding 32 per cent electrification target by 2030. It also wants grid and digital infrastructure permits issued within 12 months, with digital solutions treated as part of core grid investment rather than an afterthought.
The call builds on growing pressure from Europe’s tech and investment community to accelerate electrification. Earlier this year, a coalition led by Norrsken called for Europe to become the world’s first “electro-continent”, with electricity accounting for 50 per cent of final energy consumption by 2040 — roughly double today’s level.
The coalition argued that up to 90 per cent of the European economy could already be electrified using existing technologies. EU industrial electricity prices are roughly twice US levels and around 50 per cent higher than China’s, while rapidly growing AI and data-centre demand makes energy cost and availability increasingly important to where technology companies build and scale.
Peter Weckesser, President of DIGITALEUROPE and EVP & Chief Digital Officer at Schneider Electric, said:
“Europe’s energy bill is a wake-up call. We cannot power tomorrow’s factories without electrification and with yesterday’s grid. Digital and AI can enable cleaner, reliable, and more affordable energy faster.
The technology to make existing infrastructure intelligent and optimised is here. Now, set the target. Fix the grid. Advance.”
DIGITALEUROPE calls for billions more for critical tech
The European Commission has proposed almost €2 trillion in EU spending for 2028–2034, and DIGITALEUROPE wants a quarter of that enormous budget directed towards critical and digital technologies. It is also calling on policymakers to protect the proposed €450 billion European Competitiveness Fund and its €51.5 billion Digital Leadership window.
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General of DIGITALEUROPE, said:
“€2 trillion for an EU budget sounds big. Spread across seven years and 27 countries, it disappears fast. Europe must stop funding a little of everything and start backing what will secure our future.
Put 25 per cent of the full 2tn multi-annual EU budget into critical technologies.
FIND. FUND. TEST. BUY & SCALE. That is how Europe turns great research into factories, jobs and global companies.”
Closing Europe’s startup scale-up gap
Further, DIGITALEUROPE wants funding decisions within 90 days, a straight path from Horizon Europe research to commercial deployment, and bigger growth rounds for European companies.
For European startups, the stakes are particularly high. Many of the companies developing the technologies Europe says it needs — from AI and grid software to energy storage, semiconductors, robotics, and climate tech — still struggle to turn research and early-stage funding into large-scale commercial deployment.
DIGITALEUROPE’s proposals are intended to close that gap by giving startups faster access to EU funding, larger pools of growth capital, and, crucially, European customers willing to buy and deploy their technology.
Public procurement can provide the first customer. EU guarantees, equity and co-investment can bring in private capital. Europe’s savings should finance Europe’s scale-ups.