10 October 2022 - Press Release

Press release: EUnited panel debate and robot exhibitions – is the European robotics industry fit for the future?

On Wednesday 28^th September 2022, EUnited - the European Engineering Industries Association, hosted a unique event in Brussels where we discussed, together with the following experts, the future of the robotics industry in Europe:

• Xiaogang Song, Secretary General of China Robotics Industry Alliance (CRIA) (video presentation)
• Jeff Burnstein, President, A3 - Association for Advancing Automation (video presentation)
• Marc Dassler, CEO & Co-Founder, Energy Robotics (panel speaker)
• Florian Schnös, Head of Open Technology Innovation & Platform Manager iiQKA, KUKA (panel speaker)
• Gwenole Cozigou, Director for Construction, Machinery & Standardisation in DG GROW, European Commission (panel speaker)
• Isabelle Barthès, Deputy General Secretary, industriAll Europe (panel speaker)

The event allowed for a better understanding of developments in the European robotics industry in the larger global context and provided a balanced overview of the current discussions about the state of the European robotics industry from the perspective of the European institutions, trade unions, and robotics manufacturers. Participants also had the opportunity to interact with live examples of robot displays provided by KUKA, Energy Robotics, and TruPhysics, demonstrating first-hand human-robot collaboration and the innovation behind current robot designs.

The extended press statement is available here.

Where we go from here - the future of the European robotics industry

Understanding the overall context of robotics development and production globally is important for European robotics manufacturers, employers, and policy makers alike in shaping the future direction of European robotics development. Europe’s place as a potential hub for innovative and competitive robotics development can only be assured through strong communication and collaboration between these different actors to ensure that our robotics industry is fit for the future and an asset to European citizens and their prosperity. EUnited is proud to have facilitated this significant event with the help of all contributors from industry and European institutions. Above all, dialogue, openness, and cooperation are keys to ensuring that the European robotics industry will go from strength to strength.

Comments

“Robotics should be seen as a problem solver to safeguard prosperity and sustainability, to address a shrinking labour force and to strengthen resilience. Europe needs smart regulation that is conducive to innovation.” Wilfried Eberhardt, Chairman of EUnited Robotics and CMO KUKA AG.

“The demographic change will affect Europe hard in the next 7 years, when the baby boomers will retire and due to low birth rates of the last decades, we simply have not enough humans around to compensate for the loss of workforce. To ensure our prosperity, we urgently need to innovate in the field of AI and Robotics to automate and digitalize the tasks and the knowledge of the people leaving the workforce. If we stop innovation due to overregulation crippling the competitive development of AI and Robotics industry in Europe, we will soon face a dependency on AIs and robots developed and trained by USA and China with their moral compass, just as we are dependent on US based data technology such as Google, Facebook and Amazon. Do we really want to repeat this mistake?” Marc Dassler, CEO and Co-Founder of Energy Robotics.

“Robotics is key to deliver on the green and digital ambitions set by the European Union. However, the human in command principle must be guaranteed everywhere and at the workplace in particular. This is a matter of ethics and social acceptance.” Isabelle Barthès, Deputy General Secretary, industriAll Europe.

For questions about the event, please contact Klaus-Dieter Axt (kd.axt@eu-nited.net)