Orgalim

Orgalim was formally created in late 1954, therefore pre-dating the official European Union project. Founding associations came from Austria, Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway. Meetings and informal collaboration between industries had begun in 1948, and although initially created as an informal club without any financial demands, the organisation became increasingly structured and eventually developed a secretariat in the early 1950s. Various other engineering groups had been created at the same time as the European Coal and Steel Community developed, such as MEFTA and COLIME. Orgalim members decided in 1960 to incorporate the groups into Orgalim as working groups.[7]

Orgalim has since been registered on the Transparency Register operated jointly by the European Commission and the European Parliament.[8]

Orgalim is an international not-for-profit association with its legal seat in Brussels. Its membership comprises national associations and European sector associations from the mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, electronics and metal technology industries of European countries.[9]

The advocacy work is driven by the members through a number of governance bodies and policy committees. Senior industry leaders representing Orgalim engage with decision makers at the highest political level, for example in the European Commission's High Level Industrial Roundtable "Industry 2030"[10] and the High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence[11]. At the working level, Orgalim's hundreds-strong network of experts contributes input and insights to shape positions on the EU policies and regulations impacting the technology industries.

The secretariat in Brussels manages engagement with the EU institutions, publishes political analysis and intelligence, and gathers industry data. Further activities include the delivery of services to clients through the Partnership department and the provision of legal publications to support the day-to-day work of companies operating in the EU. The legal publications provide companies with contractual solutions for business-to-business relations – with use cases ranging from product supply, product installation, repair and maintenance, to agency contracts, distributor abroad contracts and so on. The publications fall under three main categories: general conditions, model forms and guides.[12][13]

Due to the nature of the companies and sectors that Orgalim represents, its secretariat works on a large number of policy issues.

• Digital transformation
• Energy and Climate
• Environment
• Internal market - compliance, standards and enforcement
• Internal market - product safety
• Legal
• R&D and Innovation
• Trade

From smart manufacturing to the industrial Internet of Things and embedded artificial intelligence (AI), the technology companies Orgalim represents are spearheading the digitalisation of industry through large-scale incorporation of digital tech, connectivity and data into their operations and offerings. This is why Orgalim is at the forefront of all EU policy debates in the digital arena: providing recommendations on everything from the data regime to cybersecurity and digital infrastructures.

Orgalim advocates for a holistic, forward-looking EU framework addressing the low-carbon and energy transition – one that contributes to building a competitive market for circularity and promotes the positive contribution technology industries can make to solving societal challenges and achieving sustainable growth. To this end, Orgalim's work focuses for example on the Clean Energy Package[14], the EU's 2030 Energy and Climate Framework[15], the EU Circular Economy Action Plan[16] and promoting 'energy efficiency first': a well-functioning integrated and flexible energy market with more renewables and smart infrastructures.

Orgalim's work on compliance, standards and enforcement focuses on promoting improvements to the EU's New Legislative Framework, the cornerstone of Internal Market legislation since 2008. A key priority for the organisation has been to uphold and strengthen what is known as the ‘New Approach’ to technical harmonisation and standards, which recognises that standards are a voluntary, end-user-driven and private compliance tool – an approach that gives flexibility to producers while reducing administrative burden. Orgalim's work covers a wide spectrum of product-specific EU legislation addressing the health and safety of professional end-users and consumers.

The organisation's work on legal issues aims to ensure a stable regulatory environment for the technology companies, focusing for example on liability and redress framework, contract law and protection of intellectual property rights. Orgalim's work in R&D and innovation focuses on ensuring that EU R&D&I programmes such as Horizon Europe prioritise funding for applied industrial research and strengthen collaboration between academia and industry. In addition, Orgalim advocates for open and rules-based trade between the EU and the rest of the world. The organisation works with the EU institutions to improve technology companies' access to international markets, and to ensure that the policy framework enables them to be competitive on the global stage.[17]

In February 2019 ahead of the European Parliamen elections, Orgalim launched its vision for the Europe of 2030: '2030: an industry vision for a renewed Europe'.[18] In its vision, Orgalim envisages a Europe in 2030 where innovation drives global competitiveness, a strong industry spreads prosperity throughout the economy, and technology responds to citizens’ needs – improving quality of life while enabling the transition to a low-carbon, more sustainable society.

Orgalim calls for a new type of industrial strategy that puts innovation at the heart of the EU's future, puts globalisation and technology at the service of all of Europe's citizens, and turns Europe's historic strengths and core values into future drivers of prosperity. For the vision to become a reality, Orgalim is making concrete recommendations across policy areas in support of three strategic imperatives:

• Embrace the innovation-led transformation of European industry
• Enable European industry's long-term global leadership
• Transform societal challenges into drivers of prosperity[19]