Dette innlegget er skrevet av Salvador Baille, partner i Aggrator, og ble først publisert i Shifter.
The United States has made it abundantly clear that democracies on the continent must begin to take greater responsibility for their own defense. Globalization of world trade in its current form also no longer seems so interesting, now that the shale boom has made the country the world's largest producer of oil and gas.
On the other hand, we have another nuclear power, Russia, with seemingly two main geostrategic goals to achieve, at any cost. One goal is to secure its borders within what was the Soviet Union's sphere of influence. The andre The goal is to secure its economic future by making Europe dependent on the gas and oil that the country produces, either through direct sales or via Belarus and, mainly, Ukraine.
All this comes on top of an already worrying situation for the EU in competition with the US and China. According to the report “The future of European competitiveness” delivered by Mario Draghi in November, the EU has long lagged behind in technology and innovation. The continent is also portrayed as dependent on andre world powers' resources and technology when it comes to both fossil and renewable energy.
According to the same report, the EU needs annual investments of 800 billion Euros if the region is to remain competitive in the future. This was even before the recent events surrounding the war in Ukraine showed that all of Western Europe must increase its defense budget to much higher amounts than was envisioned just a few months ago.
The situation called for action, and the reaction has been formidable. Recently, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has launched the one initiative after the The situation called for action, and the reaction has been formidable. Recently, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has launched the one initiative after the andre to try to correct the situation.
With the so-called "omnibus package", sustainability reporting will be simplified and apply to fewer companies. At the same time, she will spend many hundreds of billions of euros on building up critical areas such as artificial intelligence, defense, renewable energy, and clean industry. It is also proposed that the sums spent on building up the defense industry should not count towards the rules on budget deficits and national debt that EU members must comply with.
All of this is truly extraordinary. The magnitude of the flood of money that all of these initiatives together mean is hard to imagine. After a period of high interest rates and a drought of capital for new business initiatives, the money tap may be open to the fullest again.
This is very good news for Norwegian entrepreneurs, innovative companies and investors, for several reasons.
First, analysts doubt that there are enough projects in Europe right now to absorb such large amounts of capital. Startups and innovative projects in the most critical areas for the EU's future could therefore face less competition for this money if they act quickly.
For that andre The interpretation of projects around artificial intelligence and defense can be quite broad. Many projects and startups have some form of artificial intelligence as part of their value proposition. Initiatives that were originally intended for civilian use such as drones, autonomous vehicles or robots can quickly be modified for the military or presented as projects with military potential.
Third, a relaxation of the rules around sustainability reporting means one less barrier for startups to consider when negotiating with larger companies for business or investment.
Europe has woken up to a new geopolitical situation that has changed the rules and priorities. A flood of money that we have not seen since the pandemic is entering the productive economy, and probably for a long time. If the bureaucrats in Brussels do not change their minds when the war in Ukraine ends, this means a historic opportunity for innovative companies and entrepreneurs. They can contribute profitable or potentially profitable initiatives to the construction of a much stronger Europe.