Speech by President von der Leyen at the Lisbon Web Summit - Hoofdinhoud

Dear friends,

I am a tech optimist. I believe that science and technology have the power to make our lives better. I learnt this in my previous life, when I studied to become a medical doctor.

Technology saves lives. Robots can help to perform high-precision surgery that used to be too risky. Artificial intelligence can help identify cancers that used to go undetected. And new vaccines could put an end to the pandemic and gradually free us from this virus. The impact of the so-called "deep tech" in our lives is more visible than ever before.

Because of the pandemic, we saw years' worth of innovation and digitalisation in the space of just a few weeks. Businesses of all kinds have digitalised all or part of their operations - from production to sales and customer care. And thanks to this, they are surviving the lockdowns. People who had never even ordered a pizza online - have got used to all sorts of online services.

And a huge event such as Web Summit can still gather tens of thousands of people - even if only a handful of you are in Lisbon right now. All of this has been possible because of people like you - Tech pioneers and evangelists, those who are exploring the latest frontiers of innovation, and those who bring technology into every home. Thank you for your contribution. Thank you for making a positive difference in billions of lives.

It is because of your incredible value that the tech sector is defying the negative trends in our economy. This is particularly true here in Europe. In 2020 alone, the value of European tech companies has risen by almost 50%. Europe's tech sector is attracting more international venture capital than ever before. In fact, Europe is attracting more capital for start-ups at seed stage than any other region in the world. The pandemic has been a catalyst and an accelerator of change. But these trends had already been visible for quite a while.

In the last five years, the value of European tech companies has quadrupled. Europe has the highest number of top artificial-intelligence scientists, who are publishing their research in the best journals across the world. And there are more software developers here than in the U.S.

A handful of European start-ups born in the early Noughties have become global leaders in their fields. And the alumni of that first class have given birth to a new generation of companies across the continent.

Europe's tech sector is coming of age. Europe has all the potential to be a global leader in the next wave of digital transformation.

And yet, we are still punching below our weight. For years, our digital businesses have dealt with way more obstacles than their competitors in other parts of the world.

On the one hand, gaps in infrastructure and in the digital skills of our workforce, and lower investment. On the other hand, regulatory complexity and bureaucratic barriers when trying to scale up beyond national borders.

As a result, too many European start-ups have left our shores in order to grow. Today I would like to talk about how we are changing this. So that the 2020s can finally be Europe's Digital Decade.

First, new public investment. We want to bring the benefits of the digital transformation to all people and regions in Europe. Our recovery plan, called NextGenerationEU, is an unprecedented public investment to reshape Europe's economy. It is worth €750 billion, and 20% of it will fund digital investment. NextGenerationEU will help small businesses take up the latest technologies that are already available on the market.

We will invest in the power of industrial data. 80% of data that our businesses collect are never used - and this is such a waste of a precious resource! So we will promote common data spaces - particularly in strategic sectors such as healthcare or energy. This will create innovation ecosystems where universities, companies and innovators can have access to data and collaborate.

To support all of this, we want to power up our digital infrastructure. We will invest in a new generation of European microprocessors and supercomputers that will stretch the boundaries of both performance and energy efficiency. And we will bring high-speed connections to all corners of Europe - with 5G, 6G and fibre.

NextGenerationEU can upgrade Europe's infrastructure - physical and virtual. This is a pre-requisite for Europe's Digital Decade. We are re-writing the rulebook for our digital market, for three simple reasons.

First, I want that the values we cherish in the offline world are also respected online. At its most basic, this means that what is illegal offline should be illegal online too. And the law should be enforced. From selling unsafe products, to sharing someone's personal data without consent, to spreading illegal hate speech. No one expects digital platforms to check all the user content that they host. This would be a threat to everyone's freedom to speak their mind. But if illegal content is notified by the competent national authorities, it must be taken down. With easily accessible complaint mechanisms for those who contest this. And if you are seeing an ad, you should know who placed it and why you are seeing it.

We need a solid foundation of basic obligations for all online players. At the same time, the largest social media platforms must have greater responsibility than a simple website or a local marketplace.

This will be the core of the Digital Services Act. With great power and social influence should come greater responsibilities. A responsibility not just to act when notified, but also: a responsibility to assess the risks linked to their advertising systems, or their content moderation, a responsibility to be transparent about how those systems work, a responsibility to accept scrutiny and audit; and a responsibility to cooperate with civil society and public authorities in addressing those risks.

Second, I want companies to know that across the European Union there will be one set of core digital rules - instead of a patchwork of national legislations and national regulators for the same company.

When a Portuguese start-up scales up beyond the Portuguese borders in other European countries, it should not have to adapt to a whole new set of procedures and constraints. The European Single Market must also function in the digital world.

Today, European countries are reacting to the new trends in the digital world with new national laws. Fragmentation is growing. Our Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act will change this. We are creating a single baseline set of rules for all digital business, from Lisbon to Lapland.

Finally, I believe in the power of free enterprise. I believe in an economy where we all play by the same rules and we all have a fair shot. All companies should be able to compete on a level playing field. It shouldn't matter whether they were the first to get on the pitch, or newcomers.

Big digital platforms - from search engines to social media and online stores - have made our life in lockdown much more bearable. They have allowed companies to stay afloat. They kept us in contact with the world and our loved ones. They are profiting immensely from this, and rightly so.

But in a free market, it shouldn't be up to a private actor to decide if another company can access the market and build its own success. Platforms cannot be the new Leviathan. With the Digital Markets Act, we are setting some basic boundaries to the power of gatekeeper platforms. For instance, they shouldn't discriminate in favour of their own services.

And users should always be in control of their own data, and be able to take it with them - in a usable form. This is a matter of fairness. But it is also important that people like you can continue to innovate and get as far as your talent will take you.

Today more than ever we need visionaries who can experiment and think outside the box. To exploit industrial data. To put artificial intelligence to good use. To bring solutions from deep tech to fruition for businesses and families.

I want Europe to be a place where innovators can thrive. A place where start-ups can grow into giants. And a place where young talents can bring their ideas to life. And for this, we will strive to invest in the right assets. We want to remove the obstacles that stand on the way of progress.

Once a year, Lisbon becomes the global capital of innovation. Web Summit is a European pride. And it gives me hope that indeed the 2020s can be our Digital Decade.

Thank you very much.