Brussels, 02/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - In her first visit outside the EU in her new job, EU Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn went to the United States from 27 May to 1 June 2010, where she met with members of the US Congress and Administration, including John P. Holdren, President Barack Obama's main scientific advisor, Trade Secretary Gary Locke, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Bart Gordon, who chairs the lower House of Congress' Science and Technology Committee. She also addressed the European-American Business Council and the European Institute in Washington.
Geoghegan-Quinn took advantage of the trip to learn about US “innovation culture” for the EU's new innovation and technology strategy.
She explained: “The US is the international partner with which we have the richest and most intensive relations in research and innovation. This is true from all points of view: amounts of mutual R&D investment, flows of scientists and researchers, the number of cooperative projects and the number of co-authored publications and patents.”
As the EU's very first innovation commissioner, Geoghegan-Quinn was anxious to explain that the EU has been developing its R&D and innovation, and is an important partner for the United States. She said that research and innovation were top of the EU's agenda and Europe was open for business. The EU 2020 competitiveness agenda should boost transatlantic investment and open new trading opportunities in either direction, she added, hoping that a Transatlantic Innovation Partnership would coordinate investment and lead to mutual understanding of EU and US policies.
The commissioner said that the current policy issues of climate change, food security, energy security, healthcare and the ageing population were found in both EU and US policies under Barack Obama's new strategy: “At the heart of the new agenda is a commitment to address the grand challenges related to energy security, climate change and health. I see similarities in this respect between the goals of the EUROPE 2020 initiative and President Obama's Strategy for American Innovation. International cooperation will be an important component of those efforts and the US is our most important partner.” She said the US and the EU should work more together: “We need to pursue regulatory and policy cooperation for closer integration of our economies. The result will be to boost growth and job creation, while supporting strategic societal goals.”
Despite the importance of their joint work, Geoghegan-Quinn added that the EU and the US remained competitors: “Competition is important for the dynamism and creativity of our economies. It is natural and healthy and promotes excellence. The trick is to know when to go it alone and when to work together -with whom and in what field. It is a wholesome blend of competition and collaboration that fuels the engines of progress.”