The following opinion piece was sent to EurActiv by Jonathan Zuck, president of the Association for Competitive Technology.
Much has been said about how to create a more innovative and entrepreneurial Europe. A recent study by researchers at the Universities of Birmingham and Cambridge returned to the roots of the paradigm by posing a fundamental question: What does the entrepreneurial idyll look like? Before advising on how Europe can succeed at innovation, their study 'Dreaming of EUtopia: Constructing a Vision of an Entrepeneurial Idyll' draws the ideal conditions and environment for entrepreneurs.
In the EUtopian dream, Europe is more innovative, entrepreneurial and adaptive to change. There is a one-stop shop for patent protection, innovative firms have access to markets at home and abroad, and there is a coordinated EU innovation policy.
Entrepreneurship policies facilitate the creation of innovative companies and increase the level of R&D investment in Europe. Governments take the right actions to stimulate innovation and long-term growth for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), creating an environment in which they can flourish.
It is a dream. But how close are we to realising it?
First, the EU needs to pursue its efforts to "finalise some key initiatives". With the Swedish Presidency's commitment to moving the dossier forward, negotiations towards the Community Patent need to deliver concrete results. However, to reap the rewards of measures such as this, member states need to better implement better the Small Business Act and put SMEs at the heart of their innovation policy.
Second, we have yet to see the outcome from the review of the Lisbon Agenda, the plans for the creation of a European Innovation Act, and the first steps of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).
Furthermore, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso has recently announced plans to streamline innovation policy in the next Commission programme, which could mean having an 'innovation super-commissioner', a special advisor on innovation.
Three years ago, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso voiced the EU executive's intention to convert innovation from a buzzword in Europe to a byword for Europe. The latest announcements make it seem that this may finally happen. Creating a portfolio where all these areas converge will send a strong political signal in favour of innovation.
However, like national integration ministers are not the answer in fighting discrimination, Mr/Ms Innovation alone is not the answer to all the challenges ahead of us. Strong cross-sector policies should be developed and the entire College of Commissioners should embrace the cause. In that respect, the answers for a more innovative EU equally come from EU taxation policy, employment rules, R&D programmes, standardisation rules, intellectual property protection, competition framework etc.
This will contribute to making innovation policy more efficient and to boosting European competitiveness and benefit all innovative SMEs.
There are a few immediate steps for innovative SMEs that can be taken:
- Establish a Community patent and a single patent jurisdiction.
Innovative SMEs depend on IP protection for the survival of their businesses. Companies make investments in R&D only if they are certain that they will be able to reap the rewards of that investment. The current system is complex and diverging between Member States, creating an undue burden. A one-stop shop for patent protection across Europe is the one thing that could deliver real improvements, cut cost cuts and paperwork and offer a better legal certainty.
- Establish a Statute for a European Private Company to overcome the obstacles faced by SMEs conducting cross-border activities.
The European Private Company Statute represents a useful step in tackling SMEs obstacles to develop their business internationally. ACT encourages the Commission to support some initiatives which would specifically facilitate and promote the creation of international partnerships among SMEs and help tackle the lack of harmonised liability provisions. For instance, a pan-European web portal on liability laws in the EU countries which can be used as a tool to check for the implications of establishing a business in another member state, an EU directory which gathers all the company bi-annual and annual reports, etc.
- Ensure national and EU implementation of the Small Business Act principles, or specifically, to encourage member states to reduce the level of fees requested by national administrations for registering a business, taking inspiration from EU's best performers.
- Ensure a fair taxation system which favours R&D investment.
At the Association for Competitive Technology, we encourage President Barroso to put these ideas forward to help us materialise this EUtopia. As far away from reality as it may sound, Europe needs to fulfil these goals to succeed in a world where knowledge-based economy is truly the new driving force.
