Commission publishes Annual Single Market and Competitiveness Report

On 14 February 2024, the European Commission published the new Annual Single Market and Competitiveness Report. The report details the competitive strengths and challenges of Europe's Single Market, tracking yearly developments according to the nine competitiveness drivers identified in the EU's 2023 Long-term competitiveness Communication. Those are the functioning of the Single Market, access to private capital, public investment and infrastructure, research and innovation, energy, circularity, digitalisation, education and skills, and trade and open strategic autonomy. The 2023 Communication established a set of Key Performance Indicators to serve as a dashboard of progress regarding these drivers. While it is too early to establish stable trends, the report notes that 9 KPIs have improved, against 5 that have disimproved; 3 are stable, and 2 do not yet have new data.

In terms of research and innovation, the report concludes as follows:

• in addition to increasing EU investments in R&I, steps are required to further prioritise research efforts around the EU’s long-term competitiveness needs and strengthen the translation of research results into practical business applications.
• Reforms are needed to modernise R&I systems to increase the impact of R&I investments. For instance, strengthening linkages between businesses and research entities and improving support structures for the uptake of research and innovation results by industry, can make for an attractive business case.
• At EU level, the Commission will continue to develop and implement policies that target the promotion of deep tech and green tech innovative start-ups and scale-ups, including by building up the capabilities of the European Innovation Council.

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