The Manifesto for Creativity and Innovation, sponsored by the EU executive, calls for investment in upgrading skills for unemployed workers using private and public funds.
The document, drawn up by a group of 27 Ambassadors for Innovation and Creativity, emphasises the need for cultivating imagination and creativity if Europe is to innovate its way out of the economic stalemate.
It proposes a range of policies which it says can be the basis for delivering a fairer and greener society.
Retraining teachers and encouraging lifelong learning are highlighted as a priority, with greater attention paid to critical thinking and design at all levels of the education system.
Initiative should be rewarded
The expert group says people who take new initiative in business, the public sector and civil society should rewarded, and proposes a combination of patent reform and prizes for artists, designers, scientists and entrepreneurs. The cultural sector should be built up through national and European programmes in order to facilitate intercultural dialogue and boost creative industries, according to the manifesto.
The Ambassadors believe a broader-based innovation policy, along with increased investment in science, technology and design, will help make Europe more competitive.
“Firms should be stimulated to combine scientific knowledge with experience-based knowledge. Developing and implementing broad innovation policy strategies must be a major concern for political leaders,” the manifesto states.
Europe should think globally
The group wants to see Europe at the world-wide forefront in terms of science, culture and competitiveness, but also calls for economic collaboration with developing countries.
“Promoting innovation in poor countries is a moral obligation and it reduces the pressure of immigration. Europe should contribute to the establishment of fair rules regarding the protection and sharing of knowledge at the global level,” says the document.
As part of a wider effort to transform itself into a post-carbon society, Europe should embrace eco-innovation and clean technologies, according to the report which was coordinated through the EU executive’s education and culture directorate.
“Investments need to be combined with new institutions, new regulation and new habits. Creativity is the major tool to find solutions that combine sustainability with prosperity,” the Ambassadors concluded.
