Lead markets

Spurred by the seminal report of Esko Aho, in 2007 the EU set about trying to use its massive public sector spending power to create a coordinated demand for new products. A report on the Lead Market Initiative considers the progress of the policy to date

As the Commission embarks on its ambitious lead markets project, it is becoming clear that handing out public money is not part of the plan.

A new government policy paper puts the emphasis on public procurement, lead markets and a more international approach.

The European Commission has selected six areas of pioneering research for its long-awaited lead markets initiative.

Using Europe’s €1,700 billion annual public procurement budget to stimulate innovation is an idea whose time is coming – slowly.

The UK Conservative Party has joined the tidal wave of opinion arguing that the European Union needs to use its public procurement budget to drive innovation.

Jozef Cornu, an Alcatel-Lucent director, argues that Europe can repeat its GSM success story in other technology fields – if the EU acts fast.

The latest buzzword among Brussels technocrats is “lead markets”. And it’s going to be put into action, on an experimental basis, in 2007.

European pharma and biotech companies are behind the US. But in one shining area, Europe has outpaced the US in creating a new sector: biosimilars.