EU: Europe needs to invest $800 billion in digital infrastructure to catch up with US

Europe needs to invest close to $800 billion in its digital infrastructure to catch up with the United States and China, said European Union Commissioner Guenther Oettinger. He also urged fellow Austrians to reject populist views that could deter technology experts from migrating to Europe to help drive development. If Europe can’t develop fibre-optic networks and next-generation high-speed 5G wireless applications and networks fast enough “we will lose, because important technological applications will not be possible any longer in our industry”, Oettinger said. Amazon and Google benefit from a US-wide data standard and have been able to collect data that gives them much broader knowledge of their customers’ needs than most European companies, he said. “Investments of €600-700bn ($670-780bn) are needed in the European area, according to our calculations,” Oettinger said.