Developing – and protecting – Europe's creativity
According to Minister Turk, while the 'Lisbon' growth and jobs strategy has thus far placed the focus on knowledge, R&D and scientific innovation, this is just "part of the story". European businesses will also have to develop their creativity now that "China and India also are also starting to produce very good engineers and scientists," he said.
The "creative economy" is already an area where Europe has a global advantage, thanks to its strong "cultural heritage", its taste for "beautiful things" and its "excellent designers and architects", he claims.
"The creative industries in Europe are stronger than the car industry. And it is the creative industry that makes the difference between a coffee cup worth €0.05 and a coffee cup worth €5, even when manufacturing costs, somewhere in China, are almost the same for both of them," he commented.
But for this to work, the EU must strengthen its intellectual property protection system for brands, designs, as well as digital content, he stressed.
"The Community patent has been on the agenda for a long time and it is high time to move forward on this one," he said, although he was fairly pessimistic about the prospect of achieving any breakthrough on this "very demanding and tough subject" at the Spring Summit.
"The obstacles that have slowed progress are still more or less in place and a country like Slovenia is not in a position to lead on this because it is not responsible for the blockage," he said. He also urged member states to show "some maturity" in this area, saying: "The benefits of having a European patent are much bigger than any potential benefits related to languages and translation."
A better environment for business
According to the minister, Europe has "a gap" both in small innovative companies and in very large global market leaders, both of which contribute greatly to GDP growth. A key problem is that the economic conditions for small and medium-sized enterprises are not as favourable as in other countries, like the United States, he said.
"This is why we are very keen, when it comes to the Spring Summit conclusions, to send a strong message about the Small Business Act and about the access of SMEs to the main leverages of growth and development," including venture capital and equity financing, as well as research infrastructure, he noted.
Improving the higher education system in Europe will also be key to helping companies grow, he said, adding that, while most European countries have "fairly good or average universities," the EU is still "lacking, in comparison with the rest of the world, excellent universities".
Keeping quality people in Europe
Europe has "a shortage of high quality people" due to the "strong migration of top scientists and engineers into the United States," Turk pointed out.
The EU must make sure it creates good conditions for these people to stay and work in Europe, he said, adding that the aim should be to "trickle up the economy by basically exporting the lower paid jobs to third world economies, such as Brazil, Russia, India and China, rather than the high-skilled ones".
This would also help politicians "sell" the open market idea to citizens, he commented.
The establishment of a "fifth freedom of movement" for knowledge, features high on the agenda at the Summit (EurActiv 11/03/07).
Pursuing modernisation and reforms
"We hope to send a very strong message that Europe must continue with modernisation and reforms," he said. According to him, the new member states, including his own country, are living proof that the big structural changes required to face up to the challenges of globalisation are "in fact possible and are not necessarily painful".
Protectionism, he insisted, is not a solution: "In the short term, of course it may seem nice to protect something in order to survive. But, in the long run, you are hurting your economy if you are not exposing it to the harshest environment possible," he said.
