Transition pathways for European industrial ecosystems

Background on the transition pathways

A twin transition for resilience

The twin transition of green and digital are each other’s prerequisites if done right and should be developed in tandem to avoid working in opposition with each other. At the same time, the resilience of the industry, meaning the ability to continue business during unforeseen crises or despite disruptions in value chains, is crucial in ensuring the long-term sustainability of the transition.

We can only achieve the goal of a green, digital and resilient economy with the direct involvement of the stakeholders of key industrial ecosystems underpinning the fabric of European industry.

Pathways for transition

Each industrial ecosystem must transform its business models and value chains to become the foundation of a green, digital and resilient European economy.

But such transitions require concrete and actionable plans (transition pathways) developed for each of the industrial ecosystems.

Blueprint for transition

The European Commission and the EU’s Industrial Forum have developed a blueprint for the transition pathways of industrial ecosystems. It consists of the most important elements that need to be addressed in an actionable plan to make the transition possible.

These elements include

• infrastructure
• investments and funding
• regulation and public governance
• research & innovation, techniques and technological solutions
• skills
• social dimension
• sustainable competitiveness

Following the disruptions caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the need for an accelerated green transition to ensure, among other things, energy efficiency and autonomy as well as more control over strategic value chains has become even more evident. Therefore, the Industrial Forum has set up a rapidly working taskforce to develop an addendum to the blueprint for transition pathways. The addendum adds value to the blueprint by providing a guiding tool on how to take into account the new situation when developing the pathway to green, digital and resilience.

Co-creation of the transition

The process of designing and planning a transition pathway for each industrial ecosystem is open and inclusive. For each ecosystem, there will be a Commission staff working document outlining different scenarios for the transition. These documents will be published individually for public consultation.

Following the public consultation, the Commission and the industrial ecosystem stakeholders will draft a pathway and seek consultation on it from the Industrial Forum before adoption. Similarly, the Industrial Forum will follow the implementation of the pathway.

We will hold open calls for each pathway, where stakeholders can commit to the implementation.

Stakeholder support platform

The Commission is now working on the launch of a stakeholder support platform: a one-stop-shop for all industrial ecosystems to find the necessary resources and work together on solutions to implement the different transition pathways.

It will enable industrial ecosystem stakeholders to log on to the platform and access a range of content tailored to their interests, including learning opportunities and resources, funding opportunities, best practices, as well as relevant platforms and communities of practice. At the same time, we will use the platform to collect pledges and commitments and allow for the visualisation of their progress. Lastly, users can engage in a community discussion and collaboration space.

You can check all the functionalities planned for the platform in the terms of reference. The platform will become public in the summer of 2024.

Overview of transition pathway progress per ecosystem