Session moderated by Maite Barrera, Board Member of Cercle d’Economia
Speakers:
Maite Barrera opened the session by highlighting Europe’s declining technological power compared to China and the U.S., noting that 6 of the world’s top 10 companies are tech-based—none European. Europe faces the challenge of achieving open strategic autonomy and digital sovereignty to close this gap and safeguard its industry and values in a fragmented, heavily regulated market. Barrera introduced Marc Murtra, focusing on technology, strategic autonomy, and scale.
Marc Murtra (Telefónica): Scale and technological challenges
Murtra explained that advancing in technology is “extraordinarily difficult.” Despite thousands of companies, research centers, and administrations working on tech, only a few nations produce major breakthroughs. Over the past 25 years, we entered a new era of large private tech projects demanding massive resources and investment. In Europe, most modern technologies are American; China has managed to replicate them with high capability within a single generation.
He used telecom as an example: Europe has 44 telecom operators versus 3 in the U.S., and download speeds are 44% lower for fixed and 33% lower for mobile compared to U.S. networks. This fragmentation prevents the scale needed to “develop, deploy, and maintain telecom technologies.”
To foster growth, he argued this is a strategic moment to learn from China. Europe can build the tech infrastructure needed for autonomy—but scaling requires strong private sector consolidation, starting with the EU market.
Jesús Mantas (IBM, Biogen, Nasdaq): Europe as seen from the U.S.
Mantas pointed out that many policies of the new Trump administration were pre-announced, creating high political uncertainty that discourages capital investment. From a U.S. perspective, “Europe is an attractive but fragmented market. Talent is appealing, but labor rigidity discourages investment, and while Europe leads in regulation, it lags in investment and tech ecosystems.”
Francesca Bria (EuroStack, Decode): Europe’s technological dependency
Bria emphasized that technological dependency is no longer just economic risk—it’s structural: 80% of digital tech used in Europe is imported; 70% of the public sector cloud relies on U.S. providers; over 70% of AI models are developed in the U.S. or China.
EuroStack identifies three priorities to regain control:
Collaboration vs. autonomy
Mantas argued that collaboration should persist in "low-risk" sectors like biotech, pharmaceuticals, or telecommunications—where European and U.S. interests align. However, dependence must be reduced in semiconductors—where Europe consumes more than twice what it produces—AI, which will reshape industries, and strategic critical infrastructure like defense and cloud.
Murtra discussed AI, noting that U.S. competitors leverage looser regulations using European data, gaining competitive advantage. He argued Europe is “clearly behind and intellectually challenged by regulation.” To achieve AI parity with China or the U.S., regulatory adaptation is essential.
The moderator concluded by thanking the panelists and praising the depth of the discussion.
