Innovation squeezed out at EU summit

Boosting innovation in the European Union may be a top political priority but heads of state and government from the 25 countries in the Union had little time for the topic at this week’s summit in Brussels.

While most time was devoted to broader subjects such as future enlargement of the Union and immigration, improving Europe’s intellectual property regime and the creation of a European Institute of Technology were only touched on at the two-day meeting.

Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, welcomed a commitment by the national leaders to take a definitive decision on the EIT next year. “I am especially happy that the Council, following a proposal from Angela Merkel and myself, endorsed the idea to set a date in 2007 for a final decision to create a European Institute of Technology,” Barroso said.

Merkel, the German Chancellor, was initially rather sceptical about the idea, which Barroso has championed. She now appears to be one of its most powerful cheerleaders.

Intellectual property – new strategy

The leaders also asked the Commission, the Union’s executive body, to draw up a comprehensive intellectual property rights strategy next year, and urged the Commission to present a plan for breaking 30 years of deadlock over the issue of patents in the Union “as soon as possible”.

Last week several countries, led by France, shot down the Commission’s pragmatic approach towards forging a pan-European patent regime. Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, who led the initiative, vowed to come back with a new proposal next year but also expressed serious doubts about the likelihood of achieving any success in this area.

His pragmatic plan was for the Union to sign up to a draft agreement drawn up by the European Patent Office that would create one single patent court for all countries that signed up.

France objected on constitutional grounds, arguing that it couldn’t sign up to a non-EU agreement. At the summit in Brussels French president Jacques Chirac steered well clear of the subject, prompting many observers to share in McCreevy’s pessimism.

“There was some political noise about patents at the summit but the issue was overshadowed by more pressing, broader issues,” said one person close to the European Commission who asked not to be named. She added: “Innovation wasn’t the top priority among the leaders at this summit; it remained on the agenda but only just.”

Progress on the Process?

Barroso and his colleagues at the Commission are fighting hardest to keep innovation the focus of attention. This week Commission vice president Gunter Verheugen claimed that some progress has been made since the Union relaunched its so-called Lisbon Process a year ago.

“Europe’s economy is on the way forward. Our strategy for growth and jobs is working. Entrepreneurship and innovation are gaining ground in Europe and we are now starting to implement structural changes to our economies,” he said.

Barroso urged national governments to use the economic upswing to develop further their own plans to boost innovation and competitiveness. He presented all 25 countries with recommendations on how they could inject greater dynamism into their economies, placing heavy emphasis on investment in research and development.

“The improved economic outlook is a unique window of opportunity to speed up, not an excuse to sit back and relax,” he said.

But the heads of state and government had different priorities. At the two-day summit they agreed to use the economic upswing to stabilise their finances.

“Many leaders appear to feel that the Lisbon Process won’t get them to where they need to be regarding their excessively large deficits,” said the person close to the Commission, but she added: “Wait until the summit in the spring; that’s when we’ll find out if they are serious about boosting innovation and competitiveness.”