Six key takeaways from the Cycling Industry Summit 2025

The Cycling Industry Summit 2025, held on 14 October at the Residence Palace in Brussels, marked the beginning of a new chapter for the cycling sector. For the first time, the event was hosted by the newly merged association of Cycling Industries Europe (CIE) and Confederation of the European Bicycle Industry (CONEBI), uniting the sector under a stronger, single voice in Brussels.

Titled “The Cycling Industry for a Competitive and Decarbonised Europe”, the Summit brought together a full house of industry leaders and EU policy makers to explore the cycling industry’s vital role in advancing Europe’s competitiveness and decarbonisation goals. The keynote speeches and panels once again highlight that beyond the social value from our impact on health and environment, the Cycling Industry shall be more strongly recognised as a strategic sector/ contributor to EU and national industrial plans to boost economy, competitiveness, and growth.

Here are six key takeaways from the Summit:

• Following the welcoming remarks from the presidents of the two associations Tony Grimaldi and Massimo Panzeri, French MEP François Kalfon gave a powerful keynote highlighting the important role of the cycling industries driving economic growth, improving public health, and advancing zero-emission mobility across Europe. He outlined three measures essential for accelerating cycling growth in line with the European Declaration on Cycling: 1) Securing dedicated funding for cycling infrastructure at national, regional and EU levels; 2) Ensuring access to e-bikes for all Europeans by replicating successful company bike leasing models across EU-27; and 3) Building a world-class European cycling industry through cluster development and reshoring production to Europe.

• Results from the Return on Investment of bike sharing study, conducted by EY in partnership with EIT Urban Mobility and Cycling Industries Europe, were released by Nick Brown (Velogik) and Minh Nguyen Dac (EY). For the first time, the study quantifies financial value of bike share benefits, and the results are transformational: Every €1 invested in bike sharing today generates a 10% annual return in positive externalities, from improved health to cleaner air and reduced congestion. By 2030, with increased demand, fleet electrification, and network expansion, each euro invested could yield a 75% annual return equivalent to nearly €1 billion in positive impacts every year. Read the full report here.

• In a fireside chat, Gonzalez Alvarez (DG CLIMA) and Paul Walsh (CEO of CIE), engaged in an inspiring debate covering topics including ETS2, carbon credits, the Social Climate Fund, and what’s next for EU climate policy. Mr Alvarez confirmed that ETS2 revenues (2026-2032) could be invested in green infrastructure, such as bike lanes and company bike leasing schemes, highlighting opportunities for the cycling industry to contribute to Europe’s climate goals. He also noted that Social Climate Fund resources can be used to support social bike leasing initiatives, making cycling more accessible to all citizens.

• How to make “Made in Europe” a reality was one of the key questions asked during the panel on Leader’s perspectives: Unlocking the cycling industry’s role in Europe’s clean industrial transition, featuring Jonas Nilsson (CEO of Accell Group), Herman van Beveren (Head of Product Development, Decathlon), Alexander Frieser (Head of Group Strategy, Jobrad) and Markus Papke (Chief Innovation Officer, Riese & Müller). Building a strong European cycling industry would require taking up advanced manufacturing technologies to bring bicycle frame and component production to Europe, coupled with measures to stimulate the market. This Bike leasing has become a key driver for cycling growth empowering the entire supply chain, inclusion of bikes in the Clean Corporate Fleets initiative would help rolling out the successful model across EU-27. While there is huge potential to grow the industry and create new jobs, challenges remain in supporting innovation, strengthening the pool of skilled mechanics, and establishing a more structured second-hand market.

• The EU is better placed than ever to grow cycling. The panel on “Cycling at the heart of EU policy” gave the floor to three departments of the European Commission – with Isabelle Vandoorne speaking for the transport and mobility arm (DG MOVE), Mark Nicklas for industry and competitiveness (DG GROW) and Philippe Froissart for Research and Innovation (DG RTD), alongside industry advocacy experts Friederike Pischnick (Bosch) and Raymond Gense (PON Group). One year and half after the adoption of the historic EU Declaration on Cycling, it emerged that there is still a long ‘to-do’ list to get cycling at the heart of EU policies. At the same time – and as a result of the EU Declaration on Cycling - the European Commission is channelling millions in additional funding towards research for clean cities and rider safety, and crucially has access to reliable and actionable data on cycling thanks to the CycleCounts project. This means the EU executive is now in a much better position to formulate policy objectives and approaches based on reliable metrics – a key missing ingredient to date. The European Commission also presented key milestones and achievements for cycling policy across Europe, with the EU Progress Report on the EU Declaration on Cycling pointing at a record €4.5 billion in the current EU budget to improve cycling infrastructure, 900 000 km of cycling infrastructure built so far in Europe and the uptake of national cycling strategies by the EU Member States.

• National and regional initiatives enrich the EU’s industrial toolkit. The Panel “Opportunities in deeper industry national partnership” not only showcased how national and regional initiatives are contributing to the EU economy and growth, but highlighted several initiatives that could be implemented on a European scale to fully realise the economic opportunity of the cycling industry. The panel agreed that reshoring, local manufacturing, and infrastructure investments boost economic resilience, job creation, and competitiveness in Europe. Mateusz Pytko, President of the Polish Bicycle Industry Association discussed how the Polish cycling industry, which annually already produces more than 1 million bikes in Europe, and contributing to 20 000 jobs, could benefit from the establishment of Special Economic Zones already used in the automotive sector. Jesus Freire, General Secretary of AMBE also sees the trend to reshore production in Europe, and highlighted Spain’s purchasing subsidy and cycling tourism sector as key growing opportunities for the sector. Henrik Lundorff from the city of Copenhagen and the Danish Cycling Embassy discussed the importance of local public-private partnerships and a shared data platform to support these initiatives. Benno Hence the Ministry for Transport, North Rhein-Westphalia confirmed that Germany is positioning the cycling industry as a strategic partner in smart mobility, especially through data services and ITS integration. Our panellists agreed that National initiatives are:
  • Creating jobs
  • Stimulating innovation
  • Enhancing regional development
  • Supporting EU goals for sustainability, digitalization, and competitiveness

The cycling industry, when supported by smart policies, infrastructure, and data ecosystems, can be a cornerstone of Europe’s Clean Industrial Deal.