EU: Digital Champions call for digital prospects from the future European Commission president

The Digital Champions consist of 19 advisers to the European Commission in the field of the Digital Agenda. In the letter, cited by the same source, they presented a four point agenda which begins with the point which states that one cannot speak of the “digital economy” since all aspects of the economy have a digital component.

Comparing the revolutionary forces of the internet to the 18th century steam engine and electricity in the 19th century, the Digital Champions argued that the next President of the Commission should streamline the digital portfolio across all key dossiers.

The second point argued for a “Grand Coalition on Digital Jobs” pointing out EU’s future cannot be developed without making headway into Europe’s performance on digital advancement.

Both digital technologies and the internet amounted for 20% of economic growth in the world’s most developed economies in the period 2004-2009. The digital sector’s growth is predicted to increase sevenfold than overall European Union gross domestic product in the coming years.

The third point insists on investments in the European digital infrastructure which are needed to turn the digital contribution into economic growth. It focuses on the idea that estimates deemed the price tag at up to EUR 200 billion as the established 2020 digital broadband threshold.

Conclusively, the Digital Champions advocate for a Startup Manifesto for digital entrepreneurship to create jobs. In 2013, Europe accounted for 1.8 million jobs and this number will grow to 4.8 million by 2018 as well as triple the revenues from EUR 17.5 billion in 2013 to EUR 63 billion in 2018.