Brussels, 09/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - EU performance in innovation has to be greatly improved in a number of areas: so might the first European Commission report on the competitiveness of the Union of Innovation be summarised, which was published on Thursday 9 June and presented to the press by Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Maire Geoghegan-Quinn. The report assesses the strengths and the weaknesses of national research and innovation systems and provides factual information on which to base national policy guidelines. It details the performance of each country in research and innovation: none of the 27 member states and six associated countries assessed has a totally satisfactory report.
If Europe is to achieve the target set by its EUROPE 2020 strategy, it will have to speed up innovation and, for this, invest more heavily in research, develop scientific cooperation internationally and, above all, encourage innovative SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). For Europeans, the three main innovation priorities are research on climate change, collaboration between researchers and greater financial support for research. Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn believes that making the Union of Innovation a reality is an economic imperative, equally essential to sustainable growth as sorting out public finances. She says the road that leads to a Union of Innovation is long, with many pitfalls and serious obstacles along the way, but the EU has appropriate policies to make it to the end of the road.
Among the main conclusions of the report may be mentioned: Europe must make quicker and smarter investment in research and innovation; training of a highly-qualified labour force must respond to the needs of business; without sound assistance, knowledge will not be turned into marketable goods and services. (G.Ba./Gp/transl.rt)