Brussels, 25/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 25 November, the “Sport” Council adopted conclusions on “sport as a factor in innovation and economic growth”, pursuing one of the objectives of the EU's working plan in favour of sport for 2014-2017, which calls upon the Council to continue its examination of the economic dimension of sport.
The conclusions stress the importance of research and innovation in sport and the positive effects of sport on other sectors of the economy, as well as its job creation potential. The member states, stakeholders and the European Commission are therefore called upon to take a very wide range of initiatives to encourage research and innovation in the sector of sport.
The conclusions lay particular emphasis on the need to promote cross-sectorial and cross-border groupings, bringing together local government, universities, research centres, businesses and sporting organisations, to promote the creation of an environment conducive to research and the development of sport-based products.
The Council also stresses the fact that the positive repercussions of innovation go both ways: on the one hand, sport benefits from progress made in other sectors and, on the other, initiatives related to sport can have considerable spillover effects elsewhere. The Council also calls upon the member states to make use of EU programmes and funds, such as Horizon 2020, COSME and Erasmus+, which have important contributions to make in this area. (IL)