Innovation Emergency

 

The European Commission is calling for a ‘collaboration revolution’ to get the public and private sectors working together, as the main plank of its new plan to promote innovation and so create jobs, solve the grand challenges and build an innovation culture to rival that in the US.

 

Increasing the health span

“Active and healthy ageing” is the focus of the first European Innovation Partnership. It will be led by Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner John Dalli and Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes.

The concrete goal is to extend the health span of EU citizens by an average of two years by 2010. This was chosen because of the immense social and economic implications of ageing. Achieving the target will improve the sustainability of the EU’s social and healthcare systems and create business opportunities for innovative products and services.
There will be two main strands to the partnership, applying information and communication technology to help older people remain independent; and the development of new treatments for chronic diseases.

The first step will be to set up a steering board, chaired by Commissioners Dalli and Kroes and which will include ministers from member states, members of parliament, industry leaders, researchers and other key stakeholders, Geoghegan-Quinn said.

The focus for doing this will be European Innovation Partnerships, (EIP) each focused on a specific grand challenge, with concrete goals, driven by a board that will be chaired by one or more commissioners, with ministers from national governments, MEPs, and people from industry, academe and the public sector. Along with acting on the supply side to develop and introduce new products and services, EIPs will be able to act to bring down regulatory barriers, and so smooth the path to market and adoption.

 

The first partnership, due to get off the ground in 2011, has the objective of extending the health span of EU citizens by an average of two years by 2020. “This will reduce the strains on health budgets and open up new markets,” said Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, Commissioner for research, innovation and science, unveiling the project as a centerpiece of the Innovation Union, one of seven initiatives the Commission is launching as part of its Europe 2020 economic strategy.

Active and healthy ageing is the first of a number of EIPs that will each focus on Europe-wide problems such as ensuring a sustainable supply of raw materials, protecting water supplies, reducing the environmental impact of travel, and increasing agricultural productivity and sustainability. EIPs will be charged with identifying how research can be used to tackle each problem and ensuring breakthroughs are quickly brought to market. By identifying its priorities for action, the Commission wants to influence the direction of innovation and provide certainty for industry as to which technologies it will fund.

The Commission is already supporting major collaborative efforts in areas such as nanoelectronics, fuel cells and medicines, through its Joint Technology Initiatives, but Geoghegan-Quinn said that while these are beginning to develop, there is a need to go further. EIPs, “will be different from anything before,” she said.

Sea change needed

The overall aim of the Innovation Union plan is, “To back innovators all the way, instead of putting barriers in their way,” said Geoghegan-Quinn. The plan, which is the culmination of a year of consultation, brings together ideas on enhancing public-private cooperation, encouraging public procurement of novel products and services, and improving access to finance, in what Geoghegan-Quinn said “Is the first truly strategic approach to research and innovation”

As Geoghegan-Quinn launched the Innovation Union with Vice-President Antonio Tajani, who is responsible for industry and entrepreneurship, the two said in a joint statement. “A sea change in Europe's innovation performance is the only way to create lasting and well-paid jobs that withstand the pressures of globalisation.”

The Commission has taken a broad definition of innovation, embracing everything from new technology and business processes, to eco-innovation and how public services are run. The hope is that by adopting an approach where innovation is the overarching policy objective, Europe will improve its competitive position compared with the rest of the world.

The policy maintains the old Lisbon Agenda target of spending 3 per cent of gross domestic product on R&D, with Geoghegan-Quinn saying, “You can’t have an Innovation Union without boosting research,” and citing recent estimates that if this is achieved, 3.7 million jobs could be created and Europe’s annual GDP would increase by almost €800 billion by 2025.

But while it is hoped increased R&D spending will turn Europe into a world-class science performer, that itself is not enough. There has to be a “coherent use of intervention” to remove bottlenecks - such as costly patenting, market fragmentation, slow standard setting and a shortage of skills, that prevent ideas getting quickly to market.

Public private partnerships will be further promoted through the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). By mid-2011, the EIT is to set out a Strategic Innovation Agenda to expand its activities as a showcase for the Innovation Union.

Meanwhile, the European Research Council will get backing to launch a proof-of-concept fund next year, to bridge the funding gap in the earliest stages of innovation. ERC grant holders will be able to apply for more money to establish the commercial potential of research arising from their ERC-funded projects. This can be used for technical validation, clarifying the intellectual property rights situation or investigating commercial and business opportunities.

Funding the Innovation Union

The Innovation Union strategy calls for a review of state aid rules in 2011, to help fund its proposals. It wants member states to make better use of the €86 billion of research and innovation structural funds for 2007-2013, and more focus on innovation in the structural funds for the post-2013 period. Social innovation should become a focus of programmes funded by the European Social Fund.

There are also measures to strengthen existing initiatives such as the Risk Sharing Finance Facility. In addition, the Commission wants to scale up European venture capital investments, which it says can generate private capital of more than 20 times the initial EU budget contribution, and allow cross-border venture capital funds.

Public procurement, which accounts for about 17 per cent of the EU’s GDP, is another feature of the Innovation Union. The Commission suggests that from 2011 governments set aside dedicated budgets for public procurement of innovative products and services, which it says should create a market worth at least €10 billion a year for innovations that improve public services.

The 43-page Innovation Union communication will be debated by member states at next week’s Competitiveness Council in Luxembourg and then, crucially, at the European Council in December. “We have to get buy-in” from EU nations’ heads of state, said Geoghegan-Quinn, adding that member state approval was the biggest remaining political hurdle for the Innovation Union. The commissioner said she was convinced that member states would be persuaded that “this is the way to go.”

Other ideas and targets included in the Innovation Union communication include:

• The Innovation Union recommends that the European Parliament and the Council take the necessary steps to adopt the EU patent proposals, including on the language regime, so that the first EU patents can be delivered in 2014.

• In early 2011, the Commission will make a legislative proposal to speed up and modernise standard-setting to enable interoperability and foster innovation.

• The Commission will launch in 2011 a major research programme on public sector and social innovation.

• In 2011, the Commission will present the results of a feasibility study to develop a new ranking system to benchmark university performance.

• In 2012, the Commission will propose a European Research Area framework and supporting measures to remove the legal and practical obstacles that prevent researchers from working and operating freely, particularly across borders.

• The Commission will propose measures to complete the European Research Area – a legal requirement under the Lisbon Treaty – by 2014.

• The Innovation Union recommends that, by 2015, member states together with the Commission have completed or launched the construction of 60 per cent of the priority European research infrastructures currently identified by the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures

• By early 2011, the Commission will propose an eco-innovation action plan.

Related articles

• For the full Commission communication on the Innovation Union, visit the Commission website.

• Science|Business article on European Innovation Partnerships.

• The EU's new innovation plan is vital: Science|Business Innovation Board statement.