Rapporteur Talks

In this thought leadership interview, Lucy Cronin, Vice President for EU Policy at Amazon, explores how private-sector investment can help close Europe’s €800 billion clean transition gap while supporting competitiveness. She highlights significant investments across renewable energy, electric transport, and sustainable packaging, illustrating how decarbonisation can generate jobs, strengthen supply chains, and boost economic growth.The discussion emphasises the importance of policy support, including faster permitting, expanded charging infrastructure, and greater regulatory certainty, alongside closer industry collaboration. It suggests that, with the right framework, decarbonisation could increasingly become embedded in everyday economic activity, contributing to a more competitive and sustainable European economy by 2030.

In this interview, Sundeep Bajikar, Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Marketing at Applied Materials, discusses the evolving role of the semiconductor industry in enabling the next generation of AI technologies. He outlines how shifts beyond traditional scaling are reshaping innovation, with new materials, architectures and advanced packaging becoming critical to delivering performance gains while managing rising energy demands. The conversation explores how increasing demand for compute is placing pressure on infrastructure and sustainability frameworks, as well as the need for stronger collaboration across the value chain. Bajikar also reflects on how industry, policymakers and energy stakeholders can align to support a resilient and efficient digital ecosystem. Watch the full interview for insights into the strategic priorities shaping AI and semiconductor innovation.

Europe is entering a new phase in the design of its social and economic policies, with renewed attention on inequality and living conditions. The EU Anti-Poverty Strategy and the European Affordable Housing Plan signal a stronger focus on social cohesion, while the implementation of key climate measures, including the extension of carbon pricing to buildings and transport (ETS2), is reshaping the policy landscape. Within this context, ensuring that the green transition is socially balanced has become an increasingly important consideration for policymakers.Energy poverty sits at the intersection of these agendas. It affects a significant share of households and is closely linked to energy prices, housing quality and income levels. Recent geopolitical developments have contributed to energy market volatility, with impacts that tend to be more pronounced for vulnerable households, reinforcing existing social disparities. Addressing energy poverty is therefore not only a social challenge, but also a condition for maintaining public trust and acceptance of climate and energy policies.Despite its relevance, energy poverty is currently addressed across multiple policy areas without a fully integrated approach. This raises concerns about fragmentation, particularly in the context of ETS2 implementation and the preparation of national Social Climate Plans, where progress across Member States remains uneven. A further challenge relates to data availability and comparability, as existing methodologies differ across countries and do not always allow for a clear identification of affected households, complicating evidence-based policymaking.Some stakeholders argue that to ensure the energy transition is fair, just and inclusive requires a more systematic integration of energy poverty considerations across EU social, housing and energy policies. Strengthening coordination between existing instruments, improving data collection and monitoring, and sharing best practices across Member States could help deliver more targeted and effective support, while ensuring that the benefits of the transition are more broadly shared.Listen to this Euractiv Hybrid Conference to discuss how energy poverty can be more systematically integrated into EU social, housing and climate policies, and how existing instruments can contribute to a more coherent and targeted response. Questions to be addressed include:· How can energy poverty be better integrated across EU social, housing and energy policy frameworks?· What role can ETS2 and the Social Climate Fund play in mitigating the social impacts of the energy transition?· How can data collection and measurement of energy poverty be improved to support more effective policymaking?· What lessons can be drawn from Member State experiences and best practices in addressing energy poverty?

Europe faces a defining economic challenge: how to strengthen competitiveness and industrial resilience while staying on course for decarbonisation.As policymakers implement the EU’s competitiveness agenda – from the Competitiveness Compass to the Clean Industrial Deal and the evolving “Made in Europe” agenda – attention is increasingly turning to a critical question: how can Europe accelerate investment in the infrastructure needed to power both the green and digital transitions?Affordable, reliable and sustainable energy, modern grids, electrified transport and stronger digital infrastructure are no longer climate issues alone – they are central to Europe’s economic future, industrial strategy and long-term resilience.Yet significant barriers remain. Europe continues to face investment gaps in low-carbon technologies, power infrastructure and transport systems, while businesses seek greater regulatory clarity and faster deployment pathways.How can Europe create the right conditions for investment at scale? What role should industry, policymakers and regulators play in accelerating delivery? And how can Europe turn decarbonisation into a competitive advantage?Listen to this Euractiv Hybrid Conference bringing together senior policymakers, industry leaders and economists to explore how Europe can unlock investment, strengthen resilience and accelerate deployment across energy, transport and infrastructure. Key questions to be addressed include:• How can clean technology investment strengthen Europe’s competitiveness and industrial base?• What role should public-private collaboration play in scaling energy, transport and digital infrastructure?• What regulatory barriers are slowing deployment – and where is simplification most needed?• How can Europe ensure decarbonisation supports both economic growth and strategic resilience?

Europe’s ability to compete globally increasingly depends on how effectively it can develop, scale and deploy advanced technologies that drive productivity and long term growth. As competition intensifies in high technology sectors, EU policymakers and stakeholders are examining how Europe can convert strong research capabilities into commercially viable innovation, while ensuring that emerging technologies contribute to economic resilience and societal value.Two key technology domains sit at the centre of Europe’s bid to strengthen its industrial competitiveness and strategic autonomy: advanced connectivity and quantum technologies. European firms and standards bodies have played a decisive role in shaping global mobile standards from 3G to 5G, underpinning the digital economy. At the same time, quantum technologies are emerging as a critical next frontier, where Europe combines strong scientific excellence with a dynamic startup ecosystem, but continues to face challenges in scaling companies to a global level.Quantum technologies provide a timely and high-profile context for this discussion. As they mature, questions around intellectual property, standardisation and licensing are becoming increasingly relevant. Early decisions on how interoperability, access to technology and fair licensing are handled may influence collaboration, competition and investment incentives. Experiences from more established, standards-based sectors, such as advanced connectivity, offer lessons that may inform the development of future quantum markets.Listen to this Euractiv Conference to discuss Europe’s approach to competitiveness in emerging technologies, and the role that standards, policy and licensing frameworks can play in shaping innovation and market development. Using quantum technologies as a timely case study, the event will also highlight the findings of the new standards study. Questions to be addressed include:· What role do standards play in supporting Europe’s competitiveness and emerging technologies such as quantum?· What are the main barriers to scaling and commercialising quantum technologies in Europe?· How can policy and market frameworks encourage innovation while ensuring interoperability, fair access and competition?· What role could standardisation and licensing practices play in accelerating adoption and interoperability in quantum technologies?