Digital and AI

From a digital perspective, the Single Market holds enormous potential to support businesses of all sizes to scale, grow and export both inside and outside the EU.

The EU and Ireland are committed to a twinned green and digital led future, with digitalisation targets paving the way to 2030 and beyond. At the mid-point of the EU’s ‘Digital Decade’, the 2024-2029 mandate provides an opportunity for the EU and its Member States to recommit politically to shared digitalisation targets, driving progress towards a digital Europe that is open, competitive and resilient, that enables and leverages a strong and effective Single Market, and that fosters conditions and capacities for the EU to leverage trusted digital tools to meet the challenges of the 21st century. While acknowledging that progress has already been made, Ibec calls on the EU institutions to engage business and address gaps in our digital readiness as a competitive imperative.

From a digital innovation perspective, the Single Market holds enormous potential to support businesses of all sizes to scale, grow and export both inside and outside the EU. However, significant barriers to cross-border digital trade in the EU remain. On average, while 19.1% of EU SMEs sell online, only 8.7% engage in online cross-border sales to other EU countries. A new EU mandate presents an opportunity to address regulatory barriers to growth in digital services, particularly for SMEs, through a reinvigorated Single Market strategy that delivers a meaningful framework to support digital-first (e.g., eLabelling), openness, interoperability, and to remove bottlenecks in the Single Market. Other support measures should include implementing one-stop shops on digitalised public services for business at Member State and EU level, and capitalising on developments in the field of European digital identity of citizens and companies.

Ibec Digital Policy

Digital policy leadership is critical to both Ireland and Europe’s future economic success and well-being. Ibec supports national and EU policies that provide the ambition and tools to enable our businesses, innovators, citizens and public services to succeed and lead in the opportunities offered by further digital transformation, enabling further innovation, quality jobs, better services and the delivery of other policy objectives.