Brussels, 28/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) relies on State aid for innovation to mobilise European growth reserves. In its response to the Commission consultation on the review of rules on aid for innovation (EUROPE 9032), the CPMR stresses the importance of cohesion and the role of SMEs and says that the EU should dedicate itself to better spatial organisation of the poles of excellence of intermediate regions and convergence regions. “The regional gaps in terms of research and innovation capacity two to three times bigger than the regional gaps in terms of GDP”, explains Philippe Cichowlaz, Director of the CPMR, who insists on the emergence of “new poles in a more peripheral location, either in geographical or economic terms”. Although it is open to aid for large enterprises, the CPMR still thinks that the use of state aid is more justified for SMEs, which have even more difficulty in accessing innovation. Unlike research, the innovation process is central to the pure competition between private enterprises, the CPMR concludes, calling on use of the principle of territorial cohesion to maintain the dynamism of the maximum number of European territories.