Tech-optimism from the heart of Europe. Bridging EU policymaking with Europe's tech entrepreneurs. Led by @KayJebelli
Brussels, Belgium
Joined September 2025
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๐ ๐ช๐บ Welcome to DG Progress! ๐ช๐บ ๐
The European Commission doesnโt yet have a Directorate-General dedicated to Europeโs economic, social, and consumer progressโso weโre filling in.
DG Progress is here to help bridge the gap between Europeโs builders and our policymaking bubble. We will shed light on Europe's strengths, advocate for what its innovators need to make the next great leaps, and share ways to get involved.
๐ฌ Subscribe here: dgprogress.eu/
October's DG Progress newsletter is live! In this edition:
๐๏ธ Europe builds big โ a reusable rocket demonstrator shared between three space agencies, Ariane's largest order intake since it entered service, and a 22-year nuclear PPA underwriting Google's Finnish build-out
โฝ Von der Leyen puts the Single Market at the centre, founders ask why Europe is killing EU Inc, and 19 Member States call for a bureaucracy emergency brake
๐ MEP Svenja Hahn on why pre-regulating out of fear is the wrong instinct, and whether the AI Act strikes the balance its own recitals claim
๐ฃ๏ธ The consultations closing before December โ web scraping, AI and copyright โ plus the Apply AI Summit
๐ช Gerardo Fortuna on what makes Brussels a bit different in mid-September
dgprogress.eu/p/europes-launโฆ
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐น ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ด๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ-๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ถ๐๐น๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ด๐๐ต ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ด๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐น๐ถ๐๐
๐ช๐บ On 16 October the ๐๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐น published its latest summit conclusions on competitiveness. It underlines "the importance of advancing negotiations on deliverables for 2026, notably the 28th regime for company law", along with the Industrial Accelerator Act, the European grids package and the digital, environmental and automotive simplification packages.
That's the risk. In the rush to find compromise we end up with an EU Inc that no European founder wants to use. And instead we'll miss a generational opportunity and push more high-growth innovative companies to focus on the US instead of what should be their home.
Europe needs the legal and administrative infrastructure to compete in the global digital economy. EU Inc can be a foundational step forward. We now have ten-weeks to decide what kind of future Europe is going to have. ๐ช๐บ
Source: consilium.europa.eu/en/pressโฆ
๐๐ฟ๐๐ต๐๐ฟ ๐ ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ ๐น๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ณ-๐ณ๐๐น๐ณ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฐ๐, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฏ๐๐ถ๐น๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ถ๐
๐ง ๐ซ๐ท On 15 October Arthur Mensch, ๐ ๐ถ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐นโs chief executive, published โBuild or surrenderโ, arguing Europe should build frontier AI models rather than applications on top of them.
Then some encouragement. Black Forest Labs and ElevenLabs, he says, produce โthe best models in their categoryโ. Mistral itself touts that it has researchers in ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐, ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฑ๐ผ๐ป, ๐ ๐๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต, ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ โ and in the United States, and that it will raise compute capacity ๐๐ถ๐
๐ณ๐ผ๐น๐ฑ this coming year.
Yes, Europe needs to train its own frontier models, and relying solely on imports is not the future that Europe should strive for. But to get there, we need to have the right policy environment. And in the end, it won't be enough just to have our own models, if they're not also good. Either way, we have to build.
xitter.cf/arthurmensch/status/21โฆ
๐๐จ ๐๐ป๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ป๐ฒ๐ด๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐๐ป ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ ๐ป๐๐ฏ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป. ๐๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ'๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐๐ฝ ๐ณ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด, "๐๐ต๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ด๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ธ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐จ ๐๐ป๐ฐ?"
๐ช๐บ On 15 October ๐๐จ ๐๐ป๐ฐ published โan urgent appeal to Europeโs Prime Ministersโ. Its charge: โMonths of negotiations have hollowed out the EU Inc proposal, and only real political leadership can save it.โ
This isn't about a negotiation to make everyone equally miserable, policymakers shouldn't be negotiating just to get to the finish line and find a political compromise. This needs to be about creating the legal and administrative infrastructure that Europe's builders need in order to have a chance in the race.
The legislation is still being negotiated. The letter is open for co-signature โ if you build here, add your name.
Source: eu-inc.org
๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐'๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐ด๐ผ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ ๐ฆ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฟ๐๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป
โ๏ธ ๐ซ๐ท On 13 October, at its ai-PULSE event in Paris, ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ โ the cloud arm of the French iliad Group โ said it will deploy its first supercomputer outside France in Sweden, on AMD Instinct MI355X GPUs, and will open a GPU Zone in Copenhagen running Nvidia HGX B300. It also opened two more availability zones in Milan, with three each planned for Stockholm and Frankfurt in 2027.
Damien Lucas, Scaleway's chief executive: "Access to high-performance AI computing is becoming a strategic priority for European organizations".
Look at the map that covers: ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ, ๐๐๐ฎ๐น๐, ๐ฆ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป, ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐บ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ, ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐. A European cloud provider is making itself useful by being where its customers already are, and buying the best accelerators on the market to do it โ American ones, from two different suppliers.
Because sovereign tech comes hand-in-hand with competitiveness, and that means being able to buy the best inputs where needed. โ๏ธ๐ช๐บ
Source: scaleway.com/en/news/scalewaโฆ
๐ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ ๐ฉ๐ผ๐
๐๐จ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐น๐๐บ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ ๐ฝ๐น๐๐บ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ป๐ด: ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ป๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฐ% ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ
๐ถ ๐ช๐บ On 14 October Massimo Ferrari Minesso, Laura Lebastard and Olga Triay Bagur published "Connecting payment systems, linking economies" on VoxEU. All three are at the ๐๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ธ and write in a personal capacity. Their dataset covers 84 countries and ๐ฑ๐ฏ๐ญ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ธ๐.
Countries whose fast payment systems are interlinked trade "๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฐ% ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ธ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ๐". For comparison, the column puts a formal trade agreement at "a roughly 5-7% increase in bilateral trade".
Over half a trade agreement, from a technical connection nobody has to negotiate in public.
Europe already owns the worked example. A business in the Western Balkans paying a cross-border supplier can face fees "ten times higher than they would be for a transfer within the Single Euro Payments Area".
SEPA was built as housekeeping for the single market. On this evidence it is also something to connect other countries to, and each connection can be a hidden boost in trade that costs almost nothing ๐ถ๐ช๐บ
Source: cepr.org/voxeu/columns/conneโฆ
