Europe has lost its digital leadership. However, we still have a chance to become a leader

• What is needed for digitalization to serve to solve problems, not multiply them? How to prevent the outflow of innovative companies and technologies from Europe?
• - Europe has not always been behind in this technological race. If we recall the revolution that 3G technology brought to telecommunications, it is mainly thanks to such European companies as Siemens, Nokia, Ericsson and Alcatel. At some point, however, something went wrong for us - indicated Jacob Turowski, Meta's director of public policy in Central and Eastern Europe.
• We need to take care of using technology made in Europe. - We may feel that the devices we buy are 100% safe. They are, but until it turns out that the intermediate device - which carries our data - passes our information on and that it is then sold or even used against the user. We need to call such things by their name - said Krzysztof Gawkowski, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs.
• This text is based on statements made during the debate " Digitalization, technologies, regulations ". The panel took place on the first day of the European Economic Congress in Katowice.

The discussion in Katowice focused on preventing the outflow of innovative companies and technologies in Europe and ensuring conditions for the effective commercialization of new solutions.

"Anyone who does not want to adopt the National Cybersecurity System in Poland is committing digital high treason"

- We may feel that the devices we buy are 100% safe. They are, but only until it turns out that the intermediate device - which carries our data - passes our information on and that it is then sold or even used against the user. We have to call such things by their name. The fact that there is no law in Poland yet that would allow blocking suppliers behaving in this way is only lobbying that needs to be dealt with. Let's put it bluntly: someone who does not want to adopt the National Cybersecurity System in Poland is committing digital high treason . The digital war with Russia is ongoing and more countries will join this war, because the world is becoming increasingly polarized - said Krzysztof Gawkowski, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs, in his speech.

The main goal of the digitalization strategy announced by the government in late autumn 2024 is to improve the lives of citizens through advanced digitalization . The strategy covers activities until 2035. Among the assumptions in the strategy are, among others, transferring 5% of GDP to digitalization and carrying out 100% of official matters electronically. These are very ambitious goals, which, however, can only be achieved in a 10-year perspective.

The Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs, who took part in the debate, was asked about what will actually be implemented or launched during the 3.5 years left to the current government.

- Saying that 5% of GDP is a lot was related to the fact that we ourselves did not know how much we currently spend on digitization in Poland. We decided to check it out. It turned out that this year alone, ministries together with central offices will spend PLN 30 billion on digital development . We do not include local government in this. This gives us a completely different perspective. How do we want to support enterprises? This year alone, the Government Committee for Digitization accepted projects for implementation for the amount of PLN 2 billion - replied Deputy Minister Dariusz Standerski, somewhat evasively.

The state cannot do much without private companies. However, they also need systematic help.

The banking sector has been playing a key role in the digitalization of public services in Poland for years. However, there are many opportunities to deepen the existing integration of official data with those available to banks.

- The value we bring is that banks are very technologically advanced. 90% of bank customers use a mobile or web application. This has become a natural and safe medium for logging in to public or government services. Each of us uses such an application every day and has it on our phone. We see further potential in the development of authentication services . We are facing the implementation of the European Digital Identity Wallet, in which banks can - in a natural way - cooperate with public administration - argued Alicja Żyła, Vice-President of the Management Board of ING Bank Śląski.

However, adapting digital competences requires large investments. Companies have their financial resources, but they must have access to tools that will allow them to continue to operate competitively. The CEO of Comarch, which digitally supports over 100,000 companies in Poland, explained what support for digitalization in small and medium-sized enterprises should be based on .

- It is worth remembering about this deep education, which must take place in parallel with the implementation of new solutions. It must take place among small and medium-sized enterprises, because these are over 2 million entities in Poland together with their employees and family members. This is actually the majority of our society . This education is important in the context of cybersecurity, self-awareness of how easy it is to fall into the loop of disinformation - said Jarosław Mikos, President of Comarch.

It was Europe that the giants looked at. Now it has escaped us

In Poland, PLN 30 billion is to be spent on digital development this year from central funds. Other EU countries have also picked up the pace. European technology companies currently have a huge opportunity to compete with American and Asian competition. How does Meta , a company classified as one of the so-called global big five IT companies, assess the differences in the approach to investing in the structure needed to develop AI in European, US and Asian countries?

- Europe has not always been behind in this technological race. If we recall the revolution that 3G technology brought to telecommunications, it is mainly thanks to European companies such as Siemens, Nokia, Ericsson and Alcatel. At some point, however, something went wrong for us. In my opinion, too often in Europe we asked ourselves what the risk is related to a given technology, and we did not ask about the risk when we do not have a given technology in our country - said Jacob Turowski, Meta's director of public policy in Central and Eastern Europe.

A representative of one of the largest telecommunications companies in Europe took part in the congress debate "Digitization, technologies, regulations". Agnieszka Jankowska from T-Mobile spoke about the extent to which this sector can support the EU economy in effectively building a competitive and good digital infrastructure.

- We have great programs and ideas in Europe . The problem is their implementation . Why? The European Union is a group of 27 countries. Each has its own regulations. I am not against them, but they must take into account consumers and provide the opportunity to conduct business on an equal basis in each of these countries . Thanks to this, companies will have access to 450 million consumers, and this will increase the competitiveness of European technology companies - assured Agnieszka Jankowska, Director of the Corporate and Public Affairs Department at T-Mobile Polska.

- Individual member states cannot afford to train and implement extensive AI language models . We need to create artificial intelligence factories on the continent, but not 27. We need to limit this and choose convenient places to develop this technology, with equal access for all countries. Thanks to this approach, Europe has a chance to become a leader in the development of artificial intelligence in the world - added Damien Lucas, CEO of Scaleway from the Iliad Group.

See the full transcript of the debate "Digitization, technologies, regulations". The panel took place on the first day of the European Congress in Katowice: