Former industry leader calls for reform of EU’s approach to R&D

He was recognised in Germany as a prominent business leader, formerly head of IBM Europe and President of a major research association. Now Hans-Olaf Henkel has launched a new career as an MEP.

One thing Henkel has learned since the election in May is that politicians have a voracious appetite when it comes to speaking about small business.

“In every speech I’ve listened to from MEPs, the focus is on SMES - as if big companies were bad by the way - but the actions they’re proposing have very little to do with SMEs,” Henkel told Science|Business.

Instead of the quiet life, Henkel embraces exactly the opposite path: he did not come to Brussels to bite his tongue. It is a role for which he has been unofficially – perhaps unconsciously – preparing for years, having found his public voice on Germany’s chat show circuit and in writing numerous books.  

Looking around the Parliament, he feels the agenda is often too weighed down by ideology. This is especially so for the Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) Committee, of which he is deputy chairman.

“I find there’s very little experience,” he said. “What members have been in industry? I’ve been there all my life. Who has managed a large research organisation? I haven’t seen one.”

Henkel worked in IBM for three decades, eventually becoming head the company’s operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. After leaving in 1995, he became the President of the Federation of German Industries. 

He was President of the Leibniz Association from 2001 to 2005 and later he served on the board of Bayer, the German pharmaceutical company, and advised the Bank of America. He resigned these posts before getting active in politics.

Henkel vows to put his blue-chip CV to good use in Brussels. “I’m quite happy to be here and – it sounds arrogant – to educate these people [ITRE members] because most of them have spent all their lives sitting on benches doing politics,” he said. “And here’s someone who has been all his life in research and in industry and my goal is to change politics.”

The EU’s role in innovation

For Henkel, the EU’s role is often overstated. “One has the impression that the entire future of Europe’s research and innovation depends on it. This is rubbish,” he said.

The overwhelming majority – around 94 per cent – of all research takes place in the 28 member states without any involvement of the EU, with two-thirds of R&D expenditure flowing from the private sector.

For projects that cross borders, or in instances where countries cannot afford to finance projects on their own, the EU has a legitimate role, he said. But people are too easily satisfied if they think research and innovation should end at the continent’s borders.

“I remember very well my time at Leibniz. There were 86 research institutes with some projects in Europe but, you know what, they had many projects going beyond Europe – in Japan, Korea, the US, Canada and so on,” he said. If Europe really wants to be competitive, it should focus on the global picture.

Henkel is mildly exasperated at some of the solutions served up in the European Commission.

“My number one [focus] is making sure we let countries do what they do best and do not allow the EU to do everything,” he said.  The “ridiculous targets” set for the digital economy is an example of where the EU should keep its nose out.

“The EU says that by 2030, citizens should purchase 50 per cent of their items online. I don’t think it’s any business of Brussels to tell the UK or Germany to buy items on the internet rather than in their cities,” Henkel said.

“I resent those targets,” he continued. “Countries can make their own. It might be very good for someone like Amazon but what [about the harm] it does to SMEs?”

The EU’s outmoded format?

Henkel ran for the European Parliament because he wanted to find out what the EU ballyhoo was really all about. Upon arriving in Brussels at the end of May, he found the scale of the EU’s apparatus confounding. 

“I was quite shocked coming here. Look at this gigantic headquarters!” he said, gesturing to the busy third floor of the European Parliament.

Having tens of thousands of staff on the payroll is one thing, but the bit that really sticks in the craw for Henkel is the way it is all structured.

“When I was running IBM Europe we had a headquarters in Europe with 2,000 people,” he explained. “At the time most multinationals had headquarters in Europe, but they don’t have them anymore.”

Industry no longer makes the presumption that Europe is one market, he said. Rather, they see several, removing “Europe” from the end of their business name and replacing it with “France” or “Germany”, to give an example.

“Think about this. I do not necessarily feel what is relevant for a large company should be relevant for a large society, but it means something,” he said. “It means that Europe could be something that’s already outdated because either we should be close to the market - in politics that means close to the voters - or we should be globally-oriented.”

“So I question the value of intermediary structures with huge headquarters like this here,” Henkel said.

Henkel denies any charge of Euroscepticism – something which is levelled time and again at his party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), which hold seven seats in the Parliament. “We are in favour of the EU – our political opponents say we’re not but it’s just not true,” he said. In Parliament, the AfD sits with the European Conservatives and Reformists, a group predominantly led by UK Conservative party members. 

Conversations that touch on the concept of a “United States of Europe” are hard for Henkel to listen to.  

“I would like to see what Charles De Gaulle described as a ‘Europe of Fatherlands’; of sovereign nations. Do only what can be done better together and re-delegate [powers] to citizens. I think that’s the future,” he said.