• IPC supports a forward-looking EU industrial strategy enabling Europe’s climate and digital transitions.
• Electronics are foundational to the competitiveness and resiliency of Europe’s industrial ecosystems and to achieving Europe’s digital decade.
• Government policies and investments should reflect the strategic importance of the entire electronics value chain and enable Europe’s printed circuit board (PCB) and PCB-assembly manufacturing base to meet future market needs. 

BACKGROUND

In March 2020, the European Commission published a new Industrial Strategy for a “globally competitive, green and digital Europe.” As the COVID-19 pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in markets and supply chains, it accelerated EU efforts towards the key objectives outlined in the March strategy: fostering the EU’s “open strategic autonomy” and strengthening its economic resilience.

In light of the economic impacts of the pandemic, the European Commission updated its Industrial Strategy in 2021. The strategy includes an ongoing process to map Europe’s strategic industrial ecosystems and their dependencies and to examine options to build resilience and accelerate the green and digital transitions.  

The strategy identifies electronics as an industrial ecosystem. Electronics are also at the heart of other industrial ecosystems from aerospace and defense to mobility, health, and IT/communications infrastructure.

This IPC study from June 2023 finds the electronics manufacturing industry is poised to help drive Europe’s economic recovery and resilience, especially if government decisions take a holistic, supportive approach to the sector.