The European Commissioner, Mariya Gabriel, unveiled, on Tuesday 5 July in Strasbourg, the new European Innovation Agenda, which aims to make Europe an advanced hub for the new wave of disruptive innovations.
The agenda builds on four of the European Union’s strengths: its scientific excellence, its industrial base and start-up ecosystem, the Single Market and, finally, its talent base: its higher education institutions, 17.5 million university students and more than one million researchers.
The Commission proposes to act in five directions, broken down into 25 specific actions.
Improving access to finance for European start-ups and scale-ups. These start-ups are often rich in intellectual property, but poor in collateral. To grow beyond the start-up stage, they need patient investors.
However, few large venture capital funds are risk-taking and the investors who fund start-ups in Europe - largely government agencies - prefer to focus on the early stages of development.
To enable start-ups to get through these early stages of development financially, the European Innovation Council and its €10 billion budget should help attract €20-50 billion in private funding.
This is not enough, says Mariya Gabriel, we need to attract private investors and mobilise institutional investors.
The Commission estimates that €45 billion of private investment can be mobilised through a number of initiatives: the 11 May proposal for a debt-equity bias reduction allowance or ‘DEBRA’. Among other initiatives, a Listing Act will be proposed in the second half of 2022 to simplify the listing requirements for certain types of companies.
Improving the regulatory conditions for innovative companies to test innovations. The European Commission will submit guidelines in the first half of 2023 to promote the development of ‘regulatory sandboxes’. The institution will pilot an Innovation-Friendly Regulations Advisory Group which will provide advice on new technologies in relation to regulations and support in public procurement.
New rules under the State aid framework for research, development and innovation should allow states to grant aid to expand test beds and living labs. In addition, the Commission is expected to launch in 2023 test beds and living labs at European level.
Strengthening and interconnecting Europe’s innovation ecosystems. The Commission wants innovation ecosystems to include all regions in Europe and to benefit all citizens, including in rural areas or areas with currently low innovation levels.
The Communication notes that European innovation ecosystems remain too isolated and their exchange of resources limited. The Commission is therefore proposing start-up villages or the creation of interconnected valleys of disruptive innovation to encourage interregional projects.
To inspire, train, attract and retain talent in Europe and unleash their potential for innovation. The start-ups consulted emphasised their need for talent with the right skills.
The Commission proposes initiatives to improve vocational learning. For example, an initiative of the European Institute of Technology aims to train one million people in deep tech by 2025.
The Commission also wants to better connect higher education institutions to innovation ecosystems. It will provide training support to higher education institutions, including European University Alliances. Interested states and stakeholders will also be able to accompany the EU Talent Pool, which should be launched in mid-2023. Initiatives will focus on supporting women-led start-ups.
Supporting Member States in the development and implementation of innovation-friendly public policies. This is done in particular through the EU Technical Support Instrument under the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan.
Link to the Agenda: https://aeur.eu/f/2hx (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)