GeoPlaReg · The Digital Markets Act at the nexus of innovation-based competition and State Platform Capitalism

The platformisation of capitalism has concentrated vast economic power in the hands of a few dominant digital platforms, known as gatekeepers. These actors often exploit their position at the expense of businesses and end-users, undermining contestability, fairness, and innovation. To counter these risks, the EU adopted the Digital Markets Act (DMA). While the DMA has attracted wide scholarly attention, two major gaps remain: the lack of a dynamic analysis of its impact on innovation-based competition, and the neglect of its geopolitical dimension within the global context of State platform capitalism. This project addresses both gaps. First, it applies the dynamic competition paradigm to assess how the DMA shapes innovation-based competition, with a particular focus on a comparative EU-US analysis where no equivalent regulation exists. Second, it investigates the DMA’s geopolitical dimension through qualitative content analysis of EU policy documents and DMA enforcement workshops, situating Europe’s regulatory strategy alongside those of the United States and China. By bridging strategic management, law, and geopolitical studies, the project will clarify the conditions under which the DMA can foster innovation, reduce Europe’s dependence on foreign platforms, and strengthen Europe’s strategic autonomy. In doing so, the project will have significant impacts on science, society, and the economy. For science, it will provide a robust theoretical foundation for scholars of economics and strategic management to explore the future of innovation-based competition, while also opening a new research frontier by showing that the DMA is not only a market-correcting instrument but also a geopolitical one. For society and the economy, it will provide policymakers with practical frameworks to move beyond a static view of competition toward a dynamic one, making European digital markets more contestable, fair, and innovative, ultimately benefiting all EU businesses and end-users.