"I believe the 2009 Year of Creativity and Innovation will represent a source of inspiration. It should grow into a big tree and not only be a one-year plant," said Education Commissioner Ján Figel'.
The EU should use the current economic crisis to develop strategic goals both at European and national level and improve conditions for creativity and innovation, the commissioner declared.
"There has never been better time for Europe to be flexible," he insisted. Those who invest in creativity and innovation will be more competitive than those who do not, Figel' added.
Investing in the future
Special ambassadors to the European Year, who attended the launch, welcomed the commissioner's call to make additional funding available to improve the bloc's competitiveness, suggesting that it should be spent on issues such as human capital creation, productivity growth and environmental protection.
"Innovation can provide good tools to overcome environmental challenges," said Nokia's Executive Vice-Chairman Esko Aho, a former prime minister of Finland who is chairing the ambassadors' group.
Aho urged EU governments to refrain from cutting R&D budgets at times of crisis to provide short-term solutions, stressing that doing so would be a "great mistake".
Citing Finland as an example, Aho noted that in the early 1990s when he was the country's prime minister, he had to take tough decisions to reverse dramatic negative growth of 7%.
But looking back, he admitted that reforms would not have been taken without crises. "Crises make good circumstances to move on," said Aho, expressing hope that Europe would seize the opportunity presented by the current tumoil.
Education is key
The ambassadors also unanimously agreed that modern education systems are key to the creation of knowledge-based societies. They called for cooperation to be strengthened between governments, academia and the commercial sector to improve education systems at all levels.
