CHERN’s Working Group 2 (High technology and innovation) in collaboration with the Digital Power China (DPC) research consortium organized a series of five virtual workshop sessions that bring together technical experts (computer scientists, engineers), China scholars, and EU policymakers.
Digital technologies are an important driver of societal, political, and economic change. Europe must find its place in order to ensure a prosperous future for its people. A major challenge for Europe in this respect is the way in which the People’s Republic of China (PRC) crafts its strategy towards technology and is trying to employ a strategic advantage in the emerging power rivalry with the United States. While the European Union needs to cooperate with China, it also faces a four-dimensional “digital China challenge”: an economic, a political, a security related and an ideational challenge. The task is a multidimensional one as it encompasses a wide variety of technologies ranging from Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things to Blockchain, 5G, and semiconductors and requires both political and economic knowledge of China as well as technical expertise.
