Brussels, 30/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - Addressing the European Parliament's Industry, Research and Energy Committee on Tuesday, European Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hubner stressed the importance of investing in innovation and research for regional development in the European Union. Innovative capacity is based on ideas, which leads us to research, which underlies certain ideas, in services for example. Regions, communities and industry also give rise to certain ideas and we have to see how to make use of this potential, said the Commissioner. The role of the regions in EU research policy is not really taken into account and the Commission's communication on the regional dimension to research (EC 2001) did little to change this, she said, calling for the regions to be recognised as research centres. Welcoming the fact the EU's FP7 (Framework Programme for Research) gives regions described as 'knowledge regions' a bigger role, she admitted that the picture was not always rosy. University research is the most important instrument and this is a challenge regional policy must take up, she said. The Structural Funds have invested EUR 10.5 bn in innovation and developing R&D, which is a lot for the EU25, said Hubner, noting that 37% of ERDF funding was for technology transfer. While this is a lot of money, only 3% of the total went to training researchers. Member States and regions have to decide what approach to follow in terms of investment, added Hubner, explaining that the Commission's strategy is to improve coherence between the various EU approaches and, under the Cohesion Policy, to place greater emphasis on R&D and use the Structural Funds to increase investment in R&D. The Commissioner welcomed the fact DG Research and DG Regional Policy were working together on the emergency of innovation clusters in the regions. She said that a conference would be held in Brussels in June next year on best practice in innovation and industrial zones.