New tech coalition, CODE, is growing a collaborative digital ecosystem to boost EU growth [Advocacy Lab Content]

The Coalition for Open Digital Ecosystems (CODE), recently held its first public event in Brussels, with Qualcomm and Meta headlining. The technology coalition has emerged as a serious new stakeholder in the Brussels digital, tech, and competition policy space.

At the event, held in the Solvay Library, Qualcomm CEO, Cristiano Amon joined Euractiv’s Brian Maguire for an in-depth fireside chat on the future of technology, followed by a high-level panel discussion featuring Meta, BEUC, the European Parliament and Copenhagen Business School.

Launched in late 2023 as a collaborative industry initiative advocating for open digital ecosystems, CODE states that it believes tech ecosystems can stimulate growth, foster innovation, and empower consumers, particularly within the challenging global context of the European Union’s economy.

CODE emphasizes three key elements of openness: seamless connectivity and interoperability, consumer choice, and an environment of open access. These elements aim to enhance user experience, maintain data access, and provide fair access to digital tools for developers.

While CODE acknowledges the lack of a single definition for openness due to the diversity of existing services and platforms, it champions these common elements as integral to fostering cross-industry collaboration.

A spokesperson for CODE said, in essence, CODE is a testament to the belief that openness and collaboration can drive growth and competitiveness in the digital age.

Fair access for developers, SMEs

During the fireside chat, Cristiano Amon, CEO of Qualcomm, and Brian Maguire discussed the impact of regulation on digital ecosystems, the benefits of open data systems, and Qualcomm’s role in advancing digital openness.

Amon emphasized the importance of interoperability and fair access for developers, especially as platforms evolve and become more relevant for various devices, including cars. He also highlighted the need to provide fair access for smaller companies with new ideas to participate and reach customers in a competitive environment.

Neural Processing Unit (NPU)

Qualcomm, he said, is focused on developing computing engines, specifically the Neural Processing Unit (NPU), which is designed to run all the time and handle multiple different models. This development aims to add computing capability to various devices, whether it’s a phone, a PC, or a car. However, he noted the challenge of integrating this new engine into a phone without compromising battery life.

Discussing the Digital Markets Act (DMA), Amon expressed a positive view, applauding the European regulatory leadership for their focus on the importance of open and interoperable platforms. He pointed out that three American companies, Meta, Google, and Qualcomm, are founding members of CODE, indicating their confidence in what the Europeans are doing.

Smart cities and critical infrastructure

On the topic of smart cities, Amon stated that a minimum of 5G is essential for most purposes, emphasizing the importance of interoperability between different types of signalling. He also stressed that connectivity is critical infrastructure, akin to water, electricity, and gas.

He highlighted the importance of building a robust network and coverage for 5G, as many of the technologies being deployed on 5G will form the foundation for 6G. The main difference of 6G, scheduled to launch as early as 2030, is the addition of AI to the 5G network, enabling the network to sense in addition to connecting.

Amon voiced concern about the long-term impact of not having critical infrastructure in place and emphasized the need for a healthy operator and carrier system.

He remarked: “I believe there’s a correlation of not having that infrastructure and not being able to fully exercise the potential of the digital economy and the ability to remain competitive.”

A positive digital scenario

The panel discussion envisioned a positive scenario for the European digital agenda.

Claudio Teixeira, Legal Officer, Digital Rights at BEUC said: “From a consumer perspective, [openness] is fundamental. The idea of openness is absolutely key to achieving what we believe is the first and foremost necessity of any market that serves consumers, which is a pro-competitive and consumer-centric, environment.”

Carmelo Cennamo, Professor at Copenhagen Business School; SDA Bocconi said: “[it is necessary to] clarify a little bit the conceptualization and the concept here. Sometimes I think that ‘open ecosystem’ gets confused with the wild jungle where everybody has full freedom – that’s not the case.”

Cennamo added: “There’s a key distinction between ecosystem and markets. In ecosystems, you have some vested interest in the broader system of product value. So it’s not that you just go get what you need and you do whatever you want. There needs to be some tailoring of the activities of products. Right? So what is the purpose of the system to start with?”

“It’s different from the market where you just go and you act individually, independently from everybody else in the ecosystems. You are not independent, you are interdependent, which is something completely different. So who takes care of this? Because that’s the other problem in making an ecosystem thrive versus making a failing ecosystem. There are lots of externalities and needs to be taken care of.”

Openness is good for SMEs

Marisa Jimenez Martin, Director and Deputy Head of EU Affairs at Meta said: “What we want to do in the next five years, in the next ten years or more, is to support policies that really promote that concept of openness in the broader term (…) because we think that openness is important for Europe and it’s good for Europe, it’s good for citizens, it’s good for large businesses, but for small businesses as well.”

“Why? [It is good for SMEs] because they can scale a lot faster, and that’s really what it is about. We are committed at Meta to openness through, for example, open source AI (…) And, when it comes to openness and open source and interoperability, our partners are very important (…) but definitely when it comes to openness, [because] openness is linked to innovation.

Jimenez Martin added: “It links to investment, to research, to training and how those elements really factor in when we look at the competitive landscape of Europe moving forward.”

Ana Dos Santos, MEP, EPP Group, Portugal said: “Interoperability is a word that came from the military world, specifically from NATO – but what does it mean? NATO is a result of several countries that bring together their technology (…) and they try to operate together. So we are using this word and trying to bring it to the technology innovation world.”

Dos Santos remarked: “At the same time we want to retain some of our sovereignty. So interoperability is the keyword, and the secret to European Union innovation.”

[By Brian Maguire | Euractiv’s Advocacy Lab ]

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