On 25 September, EACN was invited to participate in a foresight workshop on Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in automotive SMEs organised by the OECD and the European Commission/DG Regio.

Secretary General Thomas Röhr could share EACN’s insights and point of views with experts from the organisers, ACEA, CLEPA, and many other institutions and companies.

After an introduction by Nadim Ahmad (OECD) and Catherine Wendt (DG Regio), the day was structured around three thematic blocks:
1. Presentation of first interesting results about FDI and SMEs in the sector conducted by the OECD
2. A panel discussion on the topic sustainable and resilient value chains with contributions and reactions from Stellantis, CLEPA, UCL Institute for Innovation of Automotive Suppliers, and the Estonia Promotion Agency.
and 3. Three parallel foresight brainstorming sessions on greening the automotive industry, connected and autonomous vehicles and pathways in the value chain.

The discussion and brainstorming results will now enter the final study in preparation by the OECD. Looking forward to discovering it.

Martin Wermelinger and Marco Bianchini (OECD) heading the panel discussion, Elena Kostadinova from DG Regio.
On the screen: Joonas Vanto from the Estonia Promotion Agency and Nils Poel from CLEPA (speaking)