This week Huawei held its online conference eco-Connect Europe 2020 under the theme of ‘New Value Together’. The event marked 20 years of Huawei technology being available in the Netherlands, and across Europe.

Huawei opened its first European R&D centre in Europe in 2000. Today, the company serves serving customers in every European country, and works with over 3,000 suppliers and 1,000 partners in the region.

In 2019 alone, Huawei contributed more than €16.4bn to Europe’s GDP and has a local workforce of some 14,000 people. The company is also firmly committed to a European future.

‘The digital landscape is changing. As we move to help different industries on digital transformation, operational technology and industry know-how will become Europe’s core competitive strengths,’ Ken Hu, deputy chairman of Huawei’s board of directors told the online audience.

Huawei intends to have a key role in these developments, Hu said. In particular, the company is opening 5G Joint Innovation Centres and Experience Centres and working with European carriers to incubate 5G-powered applications for all industries.

Local partners

‘And with our OpenLabs in Munich and Paris, we are bringing together local partners to jointly develop state-of-the-art digital industry solutions. In total, we work with more than 1,000 enterprises across Europe,’ Hu said.

Huawei is also an active member of European and international standards groups, and is ‘contributing technology, expertise, and feedback to help develop shared global standards’.

The company is committed to deepening its roots and investing in Europe, he said. ‘We will respect and embrace European values, including strict compliance with GDPR, and all laws and regulations. We are committed to long-term, stable growth in the region.’

Huawei also plans to increase investment and procurement in Europe. ‘We’re not here to take over companies or dominate the market,’ Hu said. ‘We’re here to build a sustainable ecosystem through collaboration and shared success with local European companies.’

Digital innovation

‘As part of this commitment, we will manufacture leading ICT equipment in Europe, including 5G kit, to help Europe boost the competitiveness and resilience of its ICT industry…We will push the limits of digital innovation, and invest in ICT training to help European people and businesses build their digital skills,’ Hu said

In addition, the company is adamant that it will not monetise data it collects. ‘Data belongs to our customers and users,’ Hu said. ‘This is a hard line. We don’t monetise data, and we won’t in the future. We will focus on breakthroughs in infrastructure and key technologies. We are more than happy to leave data management and operations to our local partners.’

Hu admitted that Huawei faces some ‘pretty big challenges’ mainly because of geopolitical reasons. ‘And we continue to get warm support from our European customers and partners. We really appreciate that,’ Hu told his audience.

‘Business is good. Revenue is up. Huawei will not stop innovating. And we will not stop serving our customers,’ he said. ‘We have the resources, determination, and expertise to keep innovating. We have a strong local workforce here in Europe, for Europe. And we are committed to keep earning the trust of our partners and customers in the region.’