Research & innovation
Implementing the AI Act: The Commission's first big test for better regulation
06 December 2024
Ursula von der Leyen has said her next Commission will simplify the EU’s complex regulatory environment to boost growth, especially in high-tech sectors.
Competition policy must reflect Europe's reality, not its aspirations
23 October 2024
The European Commission is under pressure to tweak competition laws to promote European innovation.
In the UK's plans for AI, Brussels still looms large
25 July 2024
The new British government plans to regulate powerful AI models. But it should also influence how European authorities implement their law on AI and help shape global norms on AI regulation.
Big tech rivalry could be the key to competition in AI
30 May 2024
Competition authorities might need to accept that today’s large technology firms will play a key role in artificial intelligence. They need to focus on ensuring they compete fiercely – rather than peacefully co-exist.
Better regulation in Europe: An action plan for the next Commission
19 March 2024
As Europe tries to boost its economic growth and become more innovative, the EU must reinvigorate the ‘better regulation’ agenda – and adapt it to how the EU institutions are evolving.
How Europe can make the most of AI
14 September 2023
AI may raise productivity – potentially substantially. European policy-makers should do more to ensure businesses use it, by regulating to clarify liability and ensuring vigorous competition between AI companies.
Can the EU afford to drive out American cloud services?
02 March 2023
Some EU countries want to stifle foreign cloud computing services. These countries’ concerns are not irrational. But disadvantaging America’s cloud giants will do Europe more harm than good.
UK science and technology after Brexit: How to fix it
28 November 2022
Brexit has hurt British science and slowed the deployment of new technology across its economy. Rejoining the single market may be politically unrealistic, but Britain can still limit the damage.
On Brexit, TTIP and the City of London
30 May 2018
The EU was keen to include financial services in TTIP, the proposed trade agreement with the US. Is its reluctance to do so with the UK mere hypocrisy?
Conference report: How to save the EU
15 January 2018
50 leading economists, political scientists and experts on the EU considered the forces undermining the Union, and how Europe should respond to them.
Brexit and the economics of populism
12 December 2016
Inequality, insecurity and a nativist backlash against immigration all help to explain the rise of populism. But globalisation does not prevent governments from addressing these problems.
Has the euro been a failure?
11 January 2016
The euro has not been a positive economic and political force. But keeping the single currency together could still be less risky than dismantling it.
Offline? How Europe can catch up with US technology
26 July 2015
The EU should not fret about the power of US internet giants. The take-up of digital technology across the services sector is more important than a 'European Google'.
How to finish the euro house
17 June 2014
Eurozone governance is politically unsustainable: its rules and institutions favour creditor over debtor countries. Eurozone policy-makers need to change direction before it is too late.
The economic consequences of leaving the EU
09 June 2014
A group of experts finds that, after leaving the EU, the UK would face an invidious choice: sign up to the single market’s rules, or suffer economic damage.In April 2016 an updated version of the report The economic consequences of leaving the EU: The final report of the CER commission on Brexit 2016 was published.
How to build European services markets
28 September 2012
European services markets are still overwhelmingly national. There are big economic gains to be made from opening them up.
Europe’s leaders are casting around for ways to improve the EU’s economic performance. In the long term, a more integrated single market for services could improve Europe’s weak productivity growth. The...
Europe’s leaders are casting around for ways to improve the EU’s economic performance. In the long term, a more integrated single market for services could improve Europe’s weak productivity growth. The...
Innovation: How Europe can take off
08 July 2011
Every EU government supports innovation, believing that it will help Europe to meet the numerous economic, social and environmental challenges that it faces.
The Lisbon scorecard X: The road to 2020
15 March 2010
The EU's Lisbon agenda has failed to deliver what it promised. Although most member-states have made some progress towards the targets they set themselves in 2000, their commitment to reform has been half-hearted.
The Lisbon scorecard IX: How to emerge from the wreckage
13 February 2009
EU governments are taking increasingly unorthodox measures to prevent the economic crisis from overwhelming their economies. They are right to intervene, but their policies must not undermine Europe's long-term economic growth prospects in the process.
Is EU competition policy an obstacle to innovation and growth?
20 November 2008
European countries need to improve their record of developing high-tech businesses if they are to prosper. This was explicitly recognised in the EU's Lisbon agenda of economic reforms launched in 2000. The reasons for Europe's poor record of innovation are complex, but one factor may be competition policy.