Execution architecture and five priorities for action
The report proposes five priorities for action, supported by an implementation architecture capable of sustaining, coordinating and translating them into results. These priorities seek to bolster existing capabilities and take advantage of the technological discontinuities of the next decade, which may open new windows of entry into the global value chain.
Implementation architecture – ensure political direction and real implementation capacity: clear mandate, multi-year continuity, stable priorities, better articulation and compatibility between instruments, less fragmentation and demanding monitoring oriented to verifiable industrial results.
Priority 1 – turning demand into industrial commitment: Europe is a large market for semiconductors, but that weight as a buyer does not always translate into industrial traction. The priority is to transform demand into more stable commitments through sectoral aggregation, multi-year contracts and strategic use of public procurement.
Priority 2 – compete where Europe can lead: Europe needs to concentrate resources in a few areas where it already has relevant expertise – such as power electronics, integrated photonics, advanced packaging, new materials for future technologies or open architectures – and in areas where technological discontinuities are reshaping the value chain. Transitions such as chiplets or AI-driven hardware-software co-design are opening up new opportunities to enter previously more closed segments. This requires prioritizing domains, concentrating investment and aligning public-private action.
Priority 3 – build industrial clusters with critical mass: without sufficient industrial density there is no competitiveness. It is necessary to consolidate reference clusters with infrastructure, engineering, financing and driving companies. To achieve this, it is necessary to concentrate resources on a limited number of strategic clusters, give them operational stability and correct bottlenecks such as co-financing and fragmentation of programmes.
Priority 4 – crossing the valley of death: one of the main European challenges is in the step from research to industrial validation and early industrialisation. To overcome this, industrialization tools are needed—such as advanced prototyping platforms, design-to-manufacturing capabilities, and lab-to-fab validation environments—along with growth-oriented pre-industrial validation and co-investment mechanisms, especially for deep-tech scaleups in hardware.
Priority 5 – Treat talent as critical infrastructure: The competitiveness of the sector depends on having technical and scientific profiles well connected to the industry. Europe must strengthen the relationship between universities, technology and research centres and companies, reform academic incentives and sustain ecosystems capable of attracting, training and retaining talent. This requires aligning better training, research careers and industrial needs.
Thus, the implementation architecture, together with the five priorities, shapes an industrial agenda for Europe aimed at consolidating capacities and seizing new opportunities in a context of accelerated technological change.
