La nouvelle stratégie européenne de croissance doit inclure une réforme du secteur public[en][de] 

2009 is European Year of Innovation and Creativity (EYCI), a year-long programme of events administered by the European Commission. The Commission defines innovation in broad terms, encompassing not just the economic impact of new products, but also the social importance of creativity in arts and business. 

As part of the EYCI, the European Policy Centre is hosting a series of debates on innovation, the knowledge economy and education. The latest debate (13 May) focused on innovation in the public sector. 

Europe's public services account for between 40% and 55% of GDP. This compares with 32% in the United States, 26% in Japan, 16% in China and 17% in India. Given expected demographic changes, the structure of the public sector is essential for Europe's economic and social future. 

Speaking at a debate on innovation and creativity in the public sector organised as part of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation (EYCI), Martens said globalisation and demographics would put major pressure on health and social welfare services across the EU. He warned that systems will be unable to cope with the strain unless serious reform is undertaken. 

The Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs runs out in 2010 and any new plan will have to include a rethink of the how the public service delivers for society, he said. 

"A lot of Europeans take for granted that the public sector can handle the health services and environmental reforms, but the question is whether it can deliver in the future," Martens said. 

Due to ageing populations and low fertility rates, reforms are necessary in key areas such as pensions, immigration and productivity, Martens said. 

"There will be financing problems unless we reform. When we talk about increasing productivity, we usually talk about the private sector," he added, while stressing that the post-Lisbon Strategy era must integrate public sector reform. 

Martens criticised the public sector's failure to promote an innovation culture, complaining that pay scales are not linked to innovation. 

"The question is, how do we bring a creative culture to the public sector? Maybe we need changes in remuneration systems to reflect what you do in the public sector, rather than how long you spend in the system," the EPC chief executive said. 

Christine van Broeckhoven, a molecular neuroscientist and ambassador of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation, said one in 10 Europeans will be aged 85 year or older within the next 50 years. 

"This presents major challenges in maintaining the same level of welfare and the pensions system," she said. Van Broeckhoven said one of the solutions to the demographic problems is to focus on improving the health status of the older population. 

"We need a major investment into brain research and need to translate this very rapidly into solutions," she said. Diabetes, osteoporosis, hearing and vision loss also pose serious threats to the health of an ageing population, van Broeckhoven added. 

"We must maintain a high level of health. Only then can we talk about people working longer. We can’t increase the working age unless we increase health," she said. 

Marianne Klingbeil, director for better regulation, evaluation and impact assessment at the European Commission, said efforts are underway to use innovation and creativity to improve the legislative process. There has been a cultural change in how laws are made at European level, she said, and this has brought better stakeholder interaction. 

"Better regulation means rules coming from European level are evidence based and stakeholders should have been consulted extensively. Ten or 20 years ago there was a very different culture," she said. 

Kingbeil added that the Commission had become more innovative in how it consults stakeholders and uses public hearings, seminars as well as Internet-based consultation tools. She said 30% of major legislative proposals were returned by her unit last year because they did not meet the required standards of transparency, consultation and rationale for legislating at European level. 

Douglas Gregory, vice-president of governmental programmes at IBM Belgium, said the future of efficient modern government would be based on "perpetual collaboration". He said the future is being shaped by factors beyond the control of governments, such as demographic and social change, and public bodies will need to collaborate with one another and the private sector. 

"Perpetual collaboration will be a capability of successful government. The public sector will have to be more proactive, dynamic, integrated and committed to ongoing assessment of services," he said. 

Gregory said IBM believes the current economic situation provides an opportunity to transform how businesses work, but is also an opportunity to change how governments work. He said that in the age of digital government, citizens should be able to do business transactions with governments online. 

He also argued that governments should bring problems to tender in an open-minded way, rather than looking for companies willing to carry out a pre-determined task decided by the public sector. 

"We should define the problem, but let companies suggest solutions," he said. 

Carlos Javier Rodríguez Jiménez, minsiter for youth and sport for the Region of Extremadura in Spain, said radical change is needed in the public system. He said a bottom-up participative debate must take place and that governments should be open to new ideas. 

"Governments have to listen actively to citizens in order to meet their needs," he said, adding that best practice should be shared between governments.