Designing a Resilient Europe – EuroTech Alliance High Level Event 2020

The annual conference of EuroTech Universities Alliance took place on the 10^th of November 2020. The Keynote speech was given by Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market, European Commission. In the following, the program of the conference offered panel discussions dedicated to momentous topics: Driving systemic change in a post-pandemic world, Empowering entrepreneurs for a sustainable future, and Fuelling the technological sovereignty of Europe.

Éric Labaye, President of École Polytechnique and of Institut Polytechnique de Paris, will participate as a speaker in the panel discussion on Fuelling the technological sovereignty of Europe.

2020 is an unusual year that is turning traditional patterns upside down. As the normal order of the economy, industry, and society has to adapt to the current situation as it evolves, being flexible is key. Flexibility and the capacity to adjust are also prerequisites for innovation. Alongside education and research, innovation is one of the three pillars of l’X, as it is also a key pillar for other important scientific and technological institutions. If major actors explore ways to innovate together and turn the current challenges into an opportunity to gain momentum, there is a chance to reinforce Europe’s cohesion and resistance, and to jointly design a resilient Europe that emerges even stronger from the crisis.

As technological sovereignty implies to become more competitive, Europe needs to broaden its scale, in terms of investments and research, told Eric Labaye, president of Ecole polytechnique. He added that scaling up the European ecosystem and putting in place the right value chains for products and services of the future within Europe, will be key to address critical questions, and enhance Europe competitiveness and resilience. He stressed that scientific and technological universities in Europe are key players to achieve this goal, as they will equip students with the necessary skills, participate in cutting-edge research and drive innovation through interaction with the industry.

École Polytechnique has joined the EuroTech Universities Alliance in 2018. This alliance of leading European universities of science and technology committed to excellence in research and education aims at jointly developing solutions to the grand challenges of society. Thanks to the alliance, its partner universities can combine their complementary strengths to jointly achieve multi-scale initiatives of high impact for the society and for the industry in an international context. EuroTech engages with all societal actors to raise awareness of the opportunities offered by science and technology.

The six EuroTech partner universities are: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), École Polytechnique (L’X), Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Technical University of Munich (TUM), and Technion Israel Institute of Technology.

To access the program: https://eurotech-universities-hle.eu/