The first goal of Macron should be to transform France and the EU into digital superpowers
Will Emmanuel Macron be the first Millenial President?
As The Economist explains it, “The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data”.
And as I have had the occasion to express it while I was General Secretary of the French Digital National Council, most of this data comes from the EU and EU citizens.
This transformation in the value chain of the world economy is probably the main origin of the rural and post-industrial bubble.
People are trying to solve this.
With the lack of an Entrepreneurial Left in France, many French Tech entrepreneurs have been supporting the campaign of Emmanuel Macron, hoping that they would finally find a leader who would be able to understand the importance of their work and their ideas for France and for Europe.
The next French President might not be so powerful anymore, but it’s only more reason for him to concentrate his action where it counts.
It also happens that digital policy issues are deeply europeans. Emmanuel Macron won’t be able to foster the development of French startups or French internet giants without building a common strategy with his fellow european leaders, beginning with Germany and then Italy, Sweden, etc.
The lack of digital strategy at EU level is staggering. The Google antitrust case has been going on for more than 7 years. More and more EU startups leave for the US every year. And despite being equal to the US in terms of GDP and possessing a larger population, Europe sits very far behind the US in terms of venture financing.
Still, as Daphni has it, the global tech culture needs Europe, International Is The New Normal, and we should see a new wave of startups that will take advantage of European forces. Indeed, as the MIT Tech Review explains, “We Need More Alternatives to Facebook”.
With the new GRDP regulation on data protection and the République Numérique Law, Europe and France have been able to keep a leading role in terms of digital policy making, but this will need to go way further towards social policy, healthcare, tax issues, etc.
With that in mind, it’s probably important to note that his victory speech begun with the hymn of the EU.
This is only more important now that the White House does not share anymore the values of its digital ecosystem. It’s not the same thing to have US oligopolies dominating the EU market under Barack Obama and under Donald Trump, especially when most of their activity consists of manipulating the data of EU citizens.
To sum it up, yes, “French annoyingly retain right to claim intellectual superiority over Americans”. 100%!
What’s needed now is to tackle digital issues from the beginning of the presidency, with a lot of ambition and as much as possible with our EU partners in mind.
It will be key to the next 5 years.
Will Emmanuel Macron succeed in becoming the first Millenial President?
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