Opinion piece / The chaos sown by the US is also an opportunity for Europe

Europe has been the model pupil of globalisation. We have opened markets, outsourced production and trusted that the system works: manufacturing is done where it is most efficient, and services are bought from where they are readily available.

The world, however, has changed. The crises of recent years have made it clear that trust is no longer a given. What used to be called global co-operation has begun to crumble under uncertainty and dependencies. More and more often we have to ask: whose hands is our technology in, where is our data located, and where do critical services actually come from?

For example, the data transfer agreement between the United States and the EU has repeatedly hung in the balance. If the current framework falls, storing Europeans' personal data in the United States becomes illegal. Then it is no longer just about law; it is about the availability of services, trust and security of supply.

Many companies still think of internationalisation primarily through the USA, because a large and unified market seems easier than a more fragmented EU. Internationalisation budgets are spent on making sure our innovations benefit the US economy.

The EU's fundamental idea is to smooth the movement of products, people and ideas. There is still a long way to go, but for example the Omnibus legislation is a step in the right direction. I hope that in future European innovations will increasingly be able to benefit the European community, not just the balance of trade.

Europe is full of technological potential, but for example in AI development we have remained in the shadow of two superpowers. However, we do not need to copy the American or Chinese model – we need to develop our own. AI and software development can multiply productivity, but they need our own solutions, our own language models and our own expertise as a foundation.

In Europe, for example, only a small number of microchips suitable only for yesterday's products are manufactured, which is why we are dependent on strong globalisation. Now we must think about what security of supply really means to us, because we cannot assume that the critical systems, solutions and expertise of the future will be built and available elsewhere, yet serve us.

Europe is well placed in the knowledge-based economy. We have education, infrastructure and a growing number of technology-sector operators as well as high-quality software development expertise. The question now is how we ensure that expertise, services and technologies will also be available in the future in Europe and on European terms.

Globalisation continues, but its rules have changed. Europe and Finland have digital expertise and infrastructure that we must hold on to and strengthen further. The chaos sown by the United States is right now an opportunity both to reinforce sovereignty and to rise to become the world's best market.

Marko Saaresto
Chair of the Board, Rakettitiede

This article was published in Talouselämä in May 2025.