Servicification means that manufacturing activities and competitiveness increasingly depend on services. Yet, there are still many remaining barriers to the free movement of services within and outside the EU. Is the manufacturing industry’s increasing use of services a possibility to build competitiveness in the EU or a challenge to it?

This report investigates the servicification of EU manufacturing and its implications for the EU internal market. The report presents several empirical indicators of servicification in individual member states and for the EU as a whole. It also analyses research into the effects of servicification on manufacturing competitiveness.

The report shows that there are large cross-country differences in servicification within the EU. In some EU countries, servicification of manufacturing is substantial and increasing significantly over time.

The report also finds that manufacturing in the EU, in an international comparison, is relatively servicified. EU manufacturing exports have a higher share of value added from services than manufacturing exports from the USA and Japan.

Research indicates that trade in services has a positive effect on exports and productivity in manufacturing. Servicification therefore means that barriers to trade in services are increasingly barriers to manufacturing.