Brussels, 29/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - The Commission is seeking new ideas for boosting the growth and innovation potential of European industry in the short term.
On Tuesday 29 May at a conference organised in Brussels and entitled “Mission Growth: Europe at the Lead of the New Industrial Revolution”, the European Commission, which is seeking new ideas for boosting the EU's growth potential and industrial innovation, launched a public consultation aimed at providing input for the mid-term review of its October 2010 communication relating to industrial policy. This review, planned for September 2012, will focus on developing a limited number of new initiatives that can deliver substantial results in the short to medium term. The conference is expected to give strong impetus to the debate about new ideas for the growth strategy focusing on the real economy and industrial innovation with a view to promoting a European leading role in new technological development. The importance attributed to industrial policy by the Commission can be seen by the fact that Commission President José Manuel Barroso took part in the work of the conference, on Tuesday, alongside Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani and Professor Jeremy Rifkin, who is economist and writer and principal architect of the Third Industrial Revolution.
The public consultation aims to gather the opinions of stakeholders on how to boost the competitiveness of European industries in order to define the priorities on which the Commission should focus its efforts. It is based on a questionnaire on the key areas of action, including: - SME-friendly business environment and entrepreneurship; access to finance and risk capital; industrial innovation and technologies policy; skills, restructuring and structural change; the single market; ICT, internet and cross-border sales; better and more consistent regulation; energy infrastructure and competition; transport; environmental regulations; resource-efficiency and recycling; energy and climate; international market access and global competition; and access to raw materials.
A progress report will be published as part of the mid-term review. Public consultation runs until 7 August 2012. (EH/transl.jl)