New report: What the European Innovation Council needs to do

In June 2015, EU Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Carlos Moedas opened a debate about Europe’s poor record in innovation, raising the possibility of creating  a European Innovation Council (EIC), modelled on  the much-praised European Research Council, and focused on practical, market and challenge-oriented innovation.

In a new report, presented to Moedas at the 2016 Science|Business Horizon 2020 conference held in Brussels today, members of the Science|Business Network put forward their vision, suggesting the EIC should focus on two fundamental problems: promoting more breakthrough innovations and scaling them up quickly within Europe and beyond.

This will require the removal of market access barriers, more funding, higher skills levels and an end to uncoordinated policies.

The report says the EIC should be both a funding and an advisory body, with a council drawn from the ranks of the world’s most successful and famous innovators.

More specifically, it should:

Provide continuity of financial support  from lab to market

The EIC’s financial instruments must have a clear progression of size and type, from moderate-sized grants to loans and equity. A venture should be able to enter the EIC funding stream at any point, leave at any point, or follow through from beginning to end. These financial instruments should be available to a broad range of innovators, university-based or not.

Crowd-in large-scale financing

The EIC should address the problem of large-scale finance in Europe for risky ventures. It would play a strategic role to crowd-in private investment. Its instruments should be sometimes equity, sometimes financial incentives, sometimes regulatory reform.

Act like a venture capitalist

When the EIC funds innovation it should act like a VC, not a government agency. Decision-making should be fast and managed by recognised professionals who perform due diligence on a venture. When a venture stumbles, it should be cut off. When it prospers, it should be helped to grow. If it succeeds, it could pay back into a permanent, revolving fund for reinvestment.

Spur regulatory reform to speed innovation

The EIC would systematically analyse obstacles to growth in emerging sectors. It would not have the authority to act on its own, but would be a well-informed, trusted voice in government councils on behalf of innovators. It would create a fast track, not just for money, but for market access.

Help celebrate innovators and promote entrepreneurship

The EIC could throw more financial muscle into celebrating successful innovators, perhaps by raising the profile of existing innovation prizes, or creating new ones. It could also help the innovators in promoting their own enterprises – at home and abroad, through trade promotion programmes focused on innovative industries.

Through the quality of its own funding decisions and communications strategies, it should create a brand – much like the successful ERC badge – that connotes excellence.

Read the full report here  

Learn more about the Science|Business Network here