The EU’s new innovation plan is vital

 

The European Commission’s new innovation plan is ‘vital’ for economic recovery – but EU member states must follow through on the plan with enough money and political support to make it work.

 

“The Commission’s Innovation Union strategy is a vital step in the process of making the European economy more dynamic and competitive,” according to the Science|Business Innovation Board, an independent panel of leaders in academia, industry and policy.

 

“But to be effective, it will need support from the 27 EU members – both political and financial. We call on the EU members to make sure that this plan leads to fast, effective action,” the Board says.

 

The Science|Business Innovation Board is a Brussels-based non-profit association formed to create an environment more conducive to innovation in Europe. Its members include J.Frank Brown, dean of international business school INSEAD; Jean-Philippe Courtois, president of Microsoft International; Alfons Sauquet, dean of Spain’s ESADE Business School; and David Eyton, group head of research and technology at BP.

The panel was responding to the release today by Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, of a major communication on innovation policy – a plan to be discussed for adoption at a December summit of European leaders. The communication, the Board says, moves in the right direction of tackling the unfavourable framework conditions of laws, regulations and policies that hobble innovators in Europe; and of avoiding the fragmentation of effort in the EU that often leads to missed opportunities.

But the Board also warns that the plan will require many changes in national regulations and policies, and stresses that national governments must avoid budget cuts in vital areas of research, development and innovation.

“Europe’s drive for budgetary restraint is unavoidable in the wake of massive economic recovery spending.  But cuts to national R&D programmes could seriously backfire.  Research is the wellspring for new technologies and innovation – and both are key to economic growth,” said INSEAD’s Dean Brown.

Economic research by, among others, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) suggests that a 1 per cent increase in public R&D boosts productivity by 0.17 per cent, and a 1 per cent increase in business R&D raises productivity by 0.13 per cent.   

“To help secure Europe’s competitive position on the world’s economic stage, we need to encourage development of new technology and advanced scientific skills. It is from this critical foundation that Europe will be able to create solid jobs and real economic value – the kind that won’t evapourate in hard times,” says Microsoft’s Courtois.

“The European Commission has made a bold move. We now call on the EU to do everything in its power to create the right conditions for European business and individuals to thrive,” Courtois adds.

“Solving the Grand Challenges Europe faces – such as climate change, energy supply, healthcare for an ageing population – is going to require innovation. And that can only happen if there’s an end to the way innovators can be constrained in both Brussels and in the national capitals,” says Sauquet of ESADE. “This plan is a step forward – and, hopefully, the first of many such steps.”

For more information on the Science|Business innovation board, visit http://www.sciencebusiness.net/info/innovationboard.php