Our missions

Digital technology represents a new societal, economic, cultural and political paradigm.

Digital technology is no longer merely an industry: it has become a transformative force reshaping every sphere of human activity. The scale effects inherent in the digital economy favour a winner-takes-all dynamic. This transformation has therefore been accompanied by the rise of large, structuring companies commonly referred to as platforms — a term that aptly reflects their increasingly central role in reshaping value chains across a wide range of economic sectors.

This digital transformation has disrupted global competitive, economic and geopolitical balances.

The United States enjoys clear dominance over the key players driving this transformation, with Asia increasingly close behind. With only 2% of the global market capitalisation of digital companies, Europe has been relegated to the role of a passive observer of the digital revolution — little more than a pool of consumers and passive producers of personal data, leaving its digital future in the hands of global, non-European platforms.

While the current balance of power raises the prospect of Europe’s economic feudalisation, it also poses broader questions that must be addressed if we are to avoid entrusting the design of our digital future solely to dominant platforms.

The sovereignty of states is being challenged.

State sovereignty is increasingly challenged by companies providing intangible services — utopian in the literal sense of existing beyond traditional territorial boundaries — and contesting the conventional prerogatives of public authorities in areas as fundamental as taxation, security and even monetary creation.

The growing obsolescence of existing legal frameworks is becoming increasingly apparent. Copyright law, intellectual property law and media law have suddenly proved ill-suited to contemporary digital practices, while new legal concepts have had to emerge, such as net neutrality and the right to be forgotten.

Beyond economics and law, even our understanding of human life is potentially subject to disruption. Ethical considerations must therefore inform debates around the changing concept of privacy and the convergence of digital technologies and biotechnology, whose early developments point towards profound transformations ahead.

Faced with the many dimensions of the digital revolution, the challenge is ultimately to understand it, shape it and participate in it — rather than simply endure it.

This requires a broad analysis of the forces of transformation at work in order to develop concrete and balanced approaches to regulation — enabling digital innovation to progress while ensuring that it serves society as a whole.

Building Europe’s third digital way between the United States and China.

Digital New Deal aims to provide the fullest possible understanding of the transformations driven by digitalisation, in the broadest sense of the term, and to develop concrete courses of action for businesses and French and European public decision-makers.

Drawing on the expertise of its contributors and their active involvement in public debate, the think tank’s work seeks to help shape a distinctly French and European approach to digital regulation, in support of a balanced, sustainable and resilient digital framework.

Shape our strategic autonomy (think tank). Build resilient technological alliances (do tank). These are our missions.

Arno Pons