A European Pact for Large Enterprises: The Recipe to Revive the EU Industry

Europe needs a new pact between governments, institutions, and large enterprises to regain competitiveness, acting as drivers of innovation and sustainability for the European industrial value.

Cernobbio Forum – Daniele Franco, former Director General of the Bank of Italy and former Minister of Economy, participated in the analysis conducted by Teha Group and Philip Morris, arriving at a complex moment: two global conflicts and a Union structurally lagging behind the United States and China.

Europe’s Lag: Numbers and Global Comparison

The picture is harsh:

• Using 100 as the productivity level of 2000, today the United States stands at 125.1, while Europe is at 38.8 dollars per hour worked, less than half of the US figure of 79.6 dollars.
• In terms of innovation, Europe faces a clear lag: among the top five companies globally for number of patents, none is European. Samsung, at the top of the ranking, has filed as many patents as the first four European companies combined.

The Decisive Role of Large Enterprises

The study highlights how many “phoenix” companies have been able to reinvent themselves in struggling sectors, innovating and repositioning successfully in emerging markets.

• Their workers create added value 3.2 times higher than that of SMEs.
• They invest 42% of total private R&D.

The Proposal: A Pact on Four Pillars

1. People: training and reskilling programs to face technological transition.
2. Technology: support for research, development, and digitalization.
3. Sustainability: policies for the ecological transition of production chains.
4. Supply Chains: reducing fragmentation to create a true European single market.

A pact between institutions and leading companies should facilitate access to financing, open innovation, collaboration with SMEs, and greater EU-level integration.

Critical Issues and Open Questions

Despite these excellences, Europe suffers from a lack of strategic vision. Key sectors such as semiconductors and electrical equipment drive global innovation but often remain “trapped” in short-sighted strategies.

Daniele Franco raises questions about how to:

• simplify regulation;
• coordinate industrial policies;
• finance high-tech companies.

The Cernobbio Forum sends a clear message: without joint action between companies and institutions, the gap with the United States and China risks widening further. The next move is up to Brussels, called to turn this vision into concrete and coordinated EU policies.