TOWARDS 2030! The Top Ten Digital Trends that will shape Europe’s future and demand political leadership!

On the evening of Tuesday 24 September, European Internet Forum hosted a special Welcome Reception for Members of the new European Parliament.
The speakers Peter Linton, Roberto Viola and Jim Cloos discussed how AI, privacy data, and cyber security are and will play a big role in the future of Europe.

This summary of Top 10 Digital Future Trends that will shape Europe’s Future and demand Political Leadership is based on EIF multi-stakeholder membership’s review of trends already highlighted in EIF 2014 report ” The Digital World in 2030 – What Place for Europe?”, as well as consideration of more recent emerging trends.

The Top 10 Digital Future Trends that will shape Europe’s Future and demand Political Leadership are summarized as it follows:
1. DEFENCE OF DEMOCRACY: If our open societies become ungovernable and our democratic institutions untenable under attack from malevolent interests enabled by digital technologies, all other issues become academic. Attacks on press freedoms and performance are a particular and growing concern.
2. EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES: Rapidly evolving digital technologies will transform all sectors and play a crucial role for society in confronting many challenges we face, notably for the environment, resource efficiency and climate change. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the most consequential evolving digital capability, founded on hyper-convergence of a spectrum of established and emerging technologies. Meanwhile, concerns over AI ethics and inbuilt biases grow.
3. DATA: The boundaries of “data policy” are expanding in a ‘Knowing Society’ where the collection of data, access to data, ownership of data, “softwarisation” and the exploitation of data in real time are becoming the primary sources of economic and political power.
4. DATA PRIVACY AND DATA SECURITY: Privacy and consumer protection concerns, notably in response to rapidly-evolving surveillance technologies, will remain at the heart of the Knowing Society. Acquirers of personal data – including governments – will therefore remain under ever-growing pressure not only to protect personal data from breach and unauthorized use, but to make it controllable by data subjects.
5. ANTI-TRUST POLICY: Pressure grows for adaptation of fundamental principles underlying anti-trust policy and enforcement to reflect new, digitally-driven, data-dependent, global market dynamics.
6. VERY HIGH CAPACITY CONNECTIVITY: High performance 5G, fibre and comparable network technologies are increasingly understood to be the essential common infrastructure. This enables globally competitive digital transformation in all vertical sectors, shaping the future global balance of both hard and soft power while also increasing exposure to cybersecurity risks.
7. ONLINE HARM: Strategies, organizations and tools to combat digitally-enabled threats to our economies, societies and governance will demand constant evolution and increasing resources in a context of growing “tech-lash” with calls for internet regulation to reestablish trust on-line.
8. FUTURE OF WORK / SOCIAL STABILITY: Digitally-driven transformation is the key to future economic growth through growth of labour productivity, but also raises concerns over the character and distribution of future employment and, thus, social stability. In the Knowing Society, virtually all jobs across all sectors will require digital skills, creating new demands on education and training to meet the soaring demand for ICT-capable professionals.
9. TAX: Digital transformation of our economies and societies will increasingly challenge established fiscal strategies, policies and boundaries, calling for more cross-border cooperation.
10. DIGITAL LEADERSHIP: Worldwide pursuit of global leadership in core digital technologies, products and services, notably by the US, China and other Asian tech powers, raises new geopolitical issues and choices for Europe, particularly for Transatlantic partnership and for Africa, a strategic priority and opportunity for Europe’s tech and investment community. Meanwhile, nationalist tendencies in a growing number of countries raise the risk of a fragmented and weaponized internet.

During this meeting MEPs expressed their concerns and expectations in view of digital trends such as new features in Technology and Artificial Intelligence, as well as to learn about EIF activities.