Huawei Highlights Openness and International Collaboration as Keys to Drive Innovation in Europe

Madrid, 29 October 2025 — Huawei Europe hosted its annual Innovation Day flagship event in Madrid under the theme Future-Proof Europe: The Power of Openness and Fair Competition. The event gathered leaders from industry, government, and academia to explore how openness, collaboration, and digital inclusion can drive Europe’s competitiveness in the years ahead.

Opening the event, Fernando Álvarez, Deputy Director of Digital Transformation at the Madrid City Council, underlined the city’s growing position as a European hub for technology, talent, and sustainable innovation. He pointed to the importance of strong partnerships between public institutions, academia, and companies such as Huawei in advancing the city’s digital agenda.

Figure 1 Fernando Álvarez, Deputy Director of Digital Transformation at the Madrid City Council delivers opening speech

Throughout the discussions, participants emphasized that Europe’s digital success depends on maintaining a balance between openness, fair competition, and regulatory clarity. Panelists such as Garry Connolly (Digital Infrastructure Ireland) and Cecilia Celeste Danesi (Pontifical University of Salamanca) focused on the need for bold policy action to accelerate digital infrastructure investment, while also ensuring that diversity, ethics, and inclusion remain at the heart of Europe’s technological progress.

The event’s keynote on semiconductors, delivered by Sandro Grigoll, Executive Vice-President at the Global Semiconductor Alliance, highlighted the cross-border nature of the industry and the importance of international cooperation in strengthening Europe’s innovation capacity. “While the geopolitical situation today is certainly not conducive to global collaboration，all the key global challenges do require global collaboration. We therefore remain convinced that world will inevitably return to confronting the fundamental global challenges that can only be solved through collaboration,” Grigoll said.

Figure 2 Sandro Grigoll, Executive Vice-President at the Global Semiconductor Alliance, highlights importance of global collaboration

Education and talent development were also in the spotlight. Oscar García Suárez, President of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid; and Fang Jing, Senior Expert at UNESCO discussed ongoing initiatives to promote digital literacy, empower women in technology, and prepare students for the future of work, reflecting Huawei’s long-standing commitment to skills development across Europe.

Figure 3 Jing Fang, Senior Expert from UNESCO, shares her thoughts on Huawei-UNESCO collaboration on talent training

Jean-Luc Lemmens, CEO of IDATE, addressed the need for collaborative ecosystems to drive the next generation of technologies, stressing that trust and openness must underpin Europe’s digital partnerships. “Leadership comes from connection, not isolation.”

The event concluded with a presentation of the Norwegian Salmon Project Phase III, showcasing how Huawei’s solutions contribute to environmental and biodiversity protection, an example of how digital innovation can support sustainability.

Closing the day, Kenneth Fredriksen, SVP of Huawei Europe, reaffirmed the company’s commitment to ethical, inclusive, and sustainable innovation, calling for continued collaboration across sectors to ensure Europe’s digital future remains open, fair, and globally connected.