Brussels, 29/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - The problem of innovation in Europe is not the lack of talent but the lack of means implemented for marketing innovative projects and making them worthwhile. Europe must develop a new innovation culture and instil into youngsters of a very early age, at infant school, a new way of using knowledge allowing them to develop their individual talents. This is a difficult exercise which requires complete recasting of the education system. Such is the substance of the message delivered by participants and experts on Thursday 29 January after a hearing organised by the EPP-ED Group and chaired by Jaroslav Zverina of the Czech Republic on innovative European ideas, as part of the European Year for Creativity and Innovation 2009.
The economic and financial crisis must help us to act and give impetus for the development of new ideas likely to rekindle the economic machinery, suggested Jan Figel, Commissioner for Education, Training and Culture. It is necessary to invest in education which lacks vitality and encourage scientific objectives, the commissioner said, promising greater encouragement in 2009 from European institutions for developing university-industry/business partnerships, which are so necessary for individual and collective success. The crisis is pushing companies to close down their research and development units which do not provide immediate benefit and which are a source of risk in the case where projects developed do not find any commercial outlets, Jack Lang of Cambridge University deplored. Universities must provide a better framework for students, play the role of mentors and encourage students to find outlets, he stressed, saying by way of conclusion: “People want to be innovators but are stopped by the system”. Underlining the fact that Europe is gradually catching up with the United States and Japan, according to the latest results of the European scoreboard on research and innovation, Miróslava Kopicova, Director of the National Education Fund, considers it is necessary to give greater encouragement to “hidden innovation” and change current financial schemes that do not promote innovation except in countries that are already in the lead. Professor Klaus Landfried (German University Association) spoke for his part of the role of universities in developing creativity. In his view, it is necessary to completely transform the current system where knowledge is instilled into pupils without encouraging their sense of criticism or their desire to use their knowledge in a practical way. The problem of the universities is their hierarchy, cramped by an archaic decision-making structure, he said. He went on to deplore governments' double-speak saying they acknowledge the need to invest massively in schools and universities while at the same time continually cutting the budget earmarked for education. The United States, which tends a more attentive ear to young people with qualifications to whom it offers real financial and moral support, remains the promised land for young European researchers, he stressed. The same thing was observed by Professor Borut Likar of the University of Primorska (Slovenia) who said that the European universities today teach things that will be obsolete in ten years' time. By developing creativity at a very young age, future adults will be able to adapt more easily to a changing world, he said. With this in view, the link between academia and the corporate world must be developed in the long term in order to overcome the brain drain by young people who do not find the outlets in Europe that they need to develop their talents, the professor explained. He also stressed the need for companies to give employees breaks, allowing them to develop their creative spirit and good judgement. Overcome by the multitude of tasks they have to perform, employees no longer question anything and end up unable to distinguish what is essential from what is superfluous, Mr Likar deplored. He subjected the hearing to a highly demonstrative test to illustrate his remarks. On the basis of a video clip, participants were asked to decide which of two basket ball teams was the most performant. Far too concerned by analysing the movements of both teams, over half the participants did not notice a man disguised as a gorilla among the players. “This is how opportunities are ignored!”, he concluded. Experts Marta Stepánkova and Stanislav Stepánek of the Czech Minds Foundation then spoke of a programme broadcast in the Czech Repubic at prime time and which opposes, during a game called “Innovating Minds”, several teams formed of young scientists of different nationalities. The aim, explained Mr Stepanek, is to replace the sports, film or modelling idols of the young with new personalities from the scientific world. He called on the European institutions and the media to give greater publicity to this kind of broadcast. Helga Nowotny, Vice-President of the European Research Council, recommended greater scientific independence in Europe and promised that the €300 million earmarked at present to young researchers, out of the billion granted each year to fundamental research, would soon be increased to €500 million. “There must be little pockets where innovative minds can develop”, she stressed. (I.L./transl.jl)