DIGITALEUROPE
DIGITALEUROPE is the Brussels trade association of the digital technology industry and describes itself as the voice of digitally transforming industries in Europe. Its members are 137 corporations and 45 national trade associations from across Europe, which together represent more than 56,000 businesses, most of them small and medium-sized companies.
DIGITALEUROPE works on the EU rules that affect digital technology, from artificial intelligence and data to cybersecurity, connectivity, health and finance. The association agrees positions among its members, sends recommendations to the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council, and brings policymakers and industry together at its Masters of Digital conference in Brussels.
Members and national trade associations
Among the 137 corporate members are technology companies such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, SAP and Siemens, and also financial firms such as Mastercard, ING, Santander, Euroclear and the London Stock Exchange Group. The 45 national trade associations come from more than 30 European countries, among them Bitkom and ZVEI in Germany, Numeum in France and Swico in Switzerland. Through these associations, DIGITALEUROPE speaks for more than 56,000 businesses in sectors that range from defense, health and energy to finance, mobility and the public sector.
Director General, Executive Board and team
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl is Director General of DIGITALEUROPE and runs the daily management of the association. Peter Weckesser, Chief Digital Officer of Schneider Electric, is president and chairs the Executive Board, which brings together ten representatives of national trade associations and ten corporate executives from companies such as Cisco, Nokia, SAP and Siemens. The General Assembly of all members is the second governing body of DIGITALEUROPE.
The team in Brussels has policy staff for each field, and for financial services Federico Di Benedetto is Senior Policy Manager for the Digital Transformation of Financial Services. Together with Vincenzo Renda, Director for Digital Transformation Policy, he is the contact for the finance papers of the association.
Digital finance policy
The digital finance working group of DIGITALEUROPE covers AI in financial services, crypto-assets and stablecoins, the Financial Data Access Regulation and the payment services reform with PSD3 and PSR. The group also works on the digital euro, on DORA and on the Savings and Investments Union, and it states that EU financial policy should recognize the potential of digitalization.
In October 2026 the group published The Next Frontier of Finance: Unlocking Agentic AI, which asks EU policymakers to keep users in control of AI agents in finance and to apply existing financial rules before writing new ones. Earlier in 2026, DIGITALEUROPE published recommendations for the trilogues on the digital euro regulation and a paper on the role of stablecoins in digital finance.
Upcoming fintech and finance events in Belgium
Masters of Digital and awards
Masters of Digital is the annual flagship conference of DIGITALEUROPE in Brussels and calls itself the premier forum for digital policy and innovation in Europe. The 2026 edition took place in February 2026 at the Steigenberger Wiltcher's hotel on Avenue Louise and covered AI and critical technologies, defense, cybersecurity and global partnerships. DIGITALEUROPE also runs the Future Unicorn and Dual-Technology Awards for young technology companies, which now include a Transatlantic Dual-Use Unicorn Award.
DIGITALEUROPE and Gaia-X
Alberto Di Felice, Policy and Legal Counsel at DIGITALEUROPE, sits on the Board of Directors of Gaia-X for the 2025 to 2027 term. Gaia-X is the Brussels association that writes common rules for data and cloud services, and its board also includes Bitkom, one of the national member associations of DIGITALEUROPE.
From EICTA to the current name
The association was established in 1999 as EICTA, the European Information, Communications and Consumer Electronics Industry Technology Association. In March 2009 EICTA took the name DIGITALEUROPE, which was meant to underline the role of the sector in European business and society.
Address in Brussels
The office of DIGITALEUROPE is at Rue de la Science 37 in the Brussels municipality of Etterbeek, postal code 1040.
DIGITALEUROPE and Finance Loop
Finance Loop members follow many of the files that DIGITALEUROPE takes to Brussels, from DORA and the rules on financial data access to the use of AI agents in banks. Finance Loop discusses these questions in its Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty track, at events in Frankfurt and other European cities.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the institutional use of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, tokenization, stablecoins, and DeFi. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.