Brussels, 06/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 6 October, the European Commission unveiled a new strategic approach, called “Innovation Union”, to the lack of innovation in Europe in order to ensure that the continent does not get left behind and beaten by its international competitors. The new approach is a flagship initiative under the EUROPE 2020 strategy, which plans to increase EU investment in R&D to an average of around 3% of GDP across the European Union. The Innovation Union strategy sets out ten key initiatives to make the EU competitive in terms of innovation. It will enable the public sector to intervene to stimulate the private sector and remove barriers like lack of funding, research system and market fragmentation, under-use of public contracts for innovation and slow progress in standardisation that make it difficult for innovative new products to be marketed. EU Commissioner for Research Máire Geoghegan-Quinn said: “As we emerge from crisis in the teeth of fierce global competition, we face an innovation emergency. If we do not transform Europe into an Innovation Union, our economies will wither on the vine while ideas and talent go to waste”.
The Commission points out that achieving the EUROPE 2020 target will require increasing R&D investment to 3% of GDP, which should create 3.7 million jobs and increase GDP by €795 billion a year by 2025. Geoghegan-Quinn said that R&D in the EU is currently 66% below the United States level and 122% below Japan in terms of share of GDP. Investment in research as a ratio of GDP has remained at 1.84% in the EU for many years. The commissioner warned that that Europe does not yet have an innovation culture and China and India are catching up. EU Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani commented that public deficits have to be reduced and tough measures are being taken in the member states to cut debt, but it is possible to make spending cuts that do not damage crucially important domains like research and innovation.
In the strategy for innovation, the European Commission sets out ten key elements. European Innovation Partnerships will mobilise public and private stakeholders to step up R&D, coordinate investment, speed up standards and mobilise demand. The Commission will provide “seed corn” funds to attract stakeholder funding. A pilot Partnership on active and healthy ageing will be launched by early 2011, followed by partnerships in areas like energy, “smart” cities and mobility, water efficiency, non-energy raw materials and sustainable and productive agriculture. The Commission has assembled 25 indicators in an “Innovation Union Scoreboard”, and a checklist of the features of successful innovation systems. A new indicator will be developed on the share of fast-growing innovative companies in the economy. The Commission will support an independent ranking system for universities. The Commission will bring forward measures to improve access to finance. It will propose a cross-border venture capital regime, work with the European Investment Bank to scale up EU schemes like the Risk-Sharing Finance Facility, and appoint a leading figure to strengthen cross-border matching of innovative firms with investors. Existing research initiatives will be stepped up. The Commission will propose measures to complete the European Research Area, increase coherence between European and national research policies, cut red tape and remove obstacles to researchers' mobility, such as the lack of transferability of pension rights. It also means maximising open access to results of publicly-funded research. The European Research Council and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology will be further developed. The Commission will reinforce the scientific base for policy making through its Joint Research Centre. The Commission will set up in 2011 a European Design Leadership Board and a European Design Excellence Label. The Commission will launch in 2011 a major research programme on public sector and social innovation and pilot a European Public Sector Innovation Scoreboard. It will launch a European Social Innovation Pilot to provide expertise for social innovators and propose social innovation as a focus of European Social Fund programmes. It will consult social partners on spreading the innovation economy to all occupational levels. The Commission proposes that governments set aside dedicated budgets for public procurement of innovative products and services. This should create a procurement market worth at least €10 billion a year for innovations that improve public services. The Commission will offer guidance on joint procurements between contracting entities from different member states. Early next year, the Commission will unveil a legislative proposal to speed up and modernise standard-setting to enable interoperability and foster innovation. Europe's intellectual property regime needs to be modernised because agreement on the EU Patent could save business €250 million a year. The Commission will unveil proposals next year for a European knowledge market for patents and licensing. Structural funding and state aid frameworks will be reviewed to boost innovation and make better use of the € 86 billion of Structural Funds programmed for R&D for 2007-13. It will propose a framework for post-2013 Structural Funds with more focus on innovation and will review the state aid framework next year. The Innovation Union will be discussed at the Competitiveness Council on 12 October and at the European Council in December. Progress will be monitored as part of the governance of the EUROPE 2020 strategy, and an annual Innovation Convention will discuss the state of the Innovation Union. (B.C./transl.fl)