Vice-President Ansip speaks about digital industry and participates in a Citizens’ Dialogue in Germany

Vice-President Ansip, in charge of the Digital Single Market, is today in Berlin, Germany, to discuss European digital priorities with German citizens and companies. This morning, he spoke at the annual conference of Bitkom – the Federal Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media. He said: “There will be no Industry 4.0 if we do not create the right conditions for investment, innovation and digital growth. This is where the plan for building a Digital Single Market comes in. It is our blueprint for digitising European industry. It addresses areas vital for industry’s digital transformation: the free flow of data, technical standards, interoperability, platforms, broadband, could computing.” He added: “Traditional industry must be open to startups. Industry must learn that nurturing and buying startups is an efficient innovation strategy” (full speech can be found here). This afternoon, Vice-President Ansip will participate in a Citizens’ Dialogue to discuss why Europe needs to be fit for the digital age (the debate will be livestreamed here at 13:00 CET)