Europe faces economic, political, and global challenges—but with innovation, green leadership, and strategic action, it can regain competitiveness, strengthen security, and secure its future in a changing world.
Europe Future Readiness Index: Turning Momentum into Competitiveness
By David Born
Track Europe’s momentum across six pillars and the levers to shift from readiness to renewal.
Europe finds itself at a decisive moment. Long regarded as an economic heavyweight built on democracy, rule of law and open markets, the continent is now under sustained pressure. Productivity growth has weakened, demographic change is reshaping labor markets, and geopolitical tensions are testing Europe’s economic and political resilience. High energy costs, fragmented capital markets and growing institutional complexity have further weighed on competitiveness in recent years.
Yet focusing solely on these challenges would give an incomplete picture. Beneath the surface, Europe retains substantial strengths that continue to set it apart globally: the world’s second largest consumer market, a deep and diversified industrial base, leading research institutions, and a strong foundation in sustainability and human capital. Europe’s challenge is therefore not a lack of assets, but the ability to mobilize them with greater speed and scale. Whether Europe can translate these fundamentals into renewed competitiveness will shape its economic trajectory for the coming decade.
"Europe is still all in on powerful assets. With aligned capital, regulation, and industrial strategy, renewed competitiveness is within reach."
Measuring Europe’s future readiness
To provide a clearer, data-driven view of where Europe stands, Roland Berger has developed the Europe Future Readiness Index. The index tracks how Europe’s competitiveness has evolved over time across six core dimensions that are critical for long-term prosperity: 1. Human capital, 2. Infrastructure, 3. Institutions, 4. Sustainability, 5. Digitalization and innovation and 6. Resilience.
Rather than offering a static snapshot, the index focuses on momentum. By comparing current develop-ments with Europe’s own long-term historical performance, it highlights areas where progress is gaining traction – and where structural weaknesses continue to hold the continent back.
A continent at an inflection point
The findings point to a mixed but increasingly dynamic picture. After years of gradual erosion, Europe shows early signs of improvement, with momentum stabilizing in selected areas. At the same time, persis-tent structural weaknesses remain, particularly in digitalization, innovation and institutional effectiveness.
Taken together, the results suggest that Europe is approaching a potential turning point. The fundamentals for a recovery are in place, but progress is neither automatic nor guaranteed.
"With Europe going all in on tailored investments, it can meet security and climate needs while driving new industrial growth."
From readiness to renewal
Europe’s future competitiveness will depend on whether improving momentum can be translated into structural change. The Europe Future Readiness Index points to the need for a new European “all in” mind-set – one that moves beyond incremental progress and focuses on execution at speed and scale.
The findings highlight four decisive levers: simplifying regulation, accelerating innovation and scale-up, deepening capital markets, and leveraging Europe’s industrial data to build an edge in artificial intelligence. Recent improvements show that progress is possible, but the window of opportunity remains narrow.
The Europe Future Readiness Index provides a structured lens to assess where momentum is building, where vulnerabilities persist, and which strategic levers will determine whether Europe can turn readiness into renewal.
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