Addressing the EU’s strategic dependencies is one of the key pillars of the updated Industrial Strategy (May 2021). A first comprehensive analysis of the EU’s strategic dependencies and capacities accompanied the updated Strategy, which highlighted that “the Commission will engage with Member States, industry and social partners, including with the support from the Industrial Forum… to deepen this analysis and further address the identified strategic dependencies.”

In order to further deepen the preliminary findings of the analytical work identifying EU strategic dependencies, the involvement of relevant European stakeholders is of critical importance. In that context, a dedicated Task Force on Strategic Dependencies (TF3) has been established by the Industrial Forum in June 2021 to collect input from relevant stakeholders and feed into the work of the European Commission in this area. The work of the Task Force covers both (1) identifying and better understanding EU strategic dependencies across different industrial ecosystems as well as (2) reflecting on relevant policy tools to address them.

The TF3 panel session will bring together experts from the French Presidency of the Council of the EU, Member States, key stakeholders and the Commission. It will a) report on the work conducted so far by the Task Force; b) provide a snapshot of relevant policy and other work in relation to strategic dependencies; and c) share views of invited experts on strategic dependencies (e.g. in relation to supply chain shortages, the twin transition) as well as possible approaches to address them.

The digital and green transitions open unprecedented opportunities for Europe, yet they also bring certain challenges. Inequalities across Europe caused by globalisation, technological change, previous economic crisis or current COVID-19 pandemic are hampering sustainable growth and can lead to social conflict, reduced participation in society, increased social exclusion, potentially undermining the future of our youth. Joint forces of industry and civil society can provide solutions to those societal challenges beyond the creation of jobs and growth and become a resilient provider of prosperity, by making production respect the boundaries of our planet and placing the wellbeing and participation of the industry worker at the centre of the production process. At the same time, the industrial transformation should serve to create new relationship with a wide set of stakeholders at the local level and in our “proximity economies”. At this level, citizens engagement models can cross-fertilise with business models. Those belong to the heart of social economy. Those business models are very attractive for young entrepreneurs, but also for young citizens to engage in a business process, such as for example a cooperative society or a volunteer association amongst other forms. Bringing those actors together with public authorities in a “local proximity and social economy ecosystem” is therefore a promising avenue for new or reinforced public private partnerships.

Moderator:

• Diana Dovgan

Speakers:

• Mohammed Ridouani
• Francesca Montalti
• Anna Athanasopoulou
• Henrik Barkman
• Maryline Filippi

In light of European Commission President von der Leyen’s announcement of 2022 as the European Year of Youth, this dialogue will highlight the steps that the EU industry should take in order to attract young people and bolster a culture of entrepreneurship and cooperation in their midst. It will also underline the environmental, social, and economic issues that young people would like to see being addressed by the EU industry and what this new generation can offer to shape the future of the digital, green and resilient EU Industry.

This session aims to underline the negative externalities of corporate irresponsibility, the tools that EU industry and policymakers need to leverage in order to deliver the European Green Deal and the Action Plan on the European Pillar of Social Rights, and the role of start-ups, NGOs, and certification bodies for the green and socially just transition of EU industry.

Introduction by Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights

Circular economy can bring opportunities at business level, but challenges related to a missing business case and a trade-off between different goals as well as administrative burden remain · The session intends to look into those challenges, companies' different points of view and what is needed from a business's perspective to make the implementation of stronger circular economy aspects operational · Main questions to be tackled: o What are the challenges that businesses face in becoming more circular, and what kind of incentives and provisions are required to overcome them? o How can digital tools help industrial manufacturing companies implement more circularity? o How should the regulatory framework for a digital product passport and circularity requirements be developed in order to keep it manageable for businesses?

Organiser: EUROCHAMBRES

The aim of this workshop is to look at how industrial ecosystems can contribute towards boosting Europe's resilience and what kind of strategic autonomy the EU should target. We will also discuss how these ecosystems can preserve and sustain the well-being of Europeans. These topics are the subject of an EESC exploratory opinion requested by the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Intellectual property (IP) improves the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and provide a potential source of revenue. SMEs have specific needs, such as understanding the importance of IP for their businesses, tailored advice in assessing their intangibles, financial support to protect and enforce their IP and better access to finance provided by investors and banks to help them scale up. This session will provide a practical guide for SMEs on the different EU initiatives available to European SMEs in the area of intellectual property and present the benefits of the upcoming Unitary Patent System.