Tag: innovation policy

There is an innovation emergency in Europe and a huge amount of work lies ahead if the EU is to close the innovation gap with competitors the US and Japan, writes Jonathan Zuck, president of the Association for Competitive Technology, in an exclusive commentary for EurActiv.   

The EU's relative shortcomings on business research and development compared to the US can be explained by it having fewer and less R&D intensive young innovators, write Reinhilde Veugelers and Michele Cincera in an August policy brief for Brussels-based think-tank Bruegel.

The EU's long-term economic targets for 2020 are "good and necessary," but more fundamental changes are needed to remove the "ton" of barriers that continue to hamper the completion of the single market, Nani Beccalli, president and CEO of GE International, told EurActiv in an interview.

The EU commissioners for innovation and regional policy, meeting in Spain this week, have called for an end to duplication and misuse of EU funding between their vast policy machines and pledged to work better together.

Plans to unveil an Innovation Act in time for the spring meeting of EU leaders have been stalled while the new European Commission beds down and looks at broadening the scope of the strategy.

Five panels of experts have issued a joint policy paper demanding major changes to Europe's innovation policy just weeks before the EU's first commissioner for research and innovation is due to take office.

The days of the $1 billion blockbuster drug are over, according to a senior industry researcher. Big pharma is now investing in finding multiple uses for medicines developed to treat rare diseases, but is pushing the EU for regulatory changes to make research worthwhile.

Officials charged with drafting Europe's first 'innovation act' are looking at ways to boost creative clusters, which are seen as a driver of innovation and job creation.

The "scale and ambition" of the European Union's structural funds for regional development should be expanded to strengthen investment in research and knowledge, according to an expert report published today (12 November) by the EU. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the document would feed into the ongoing discussion on the shape of Europe's innovation policy. 

The new European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT) is working to attract private funds to ensure its flagship research consortia are sustainable, EIT Director Gérard de Nazelle told EurActiv Hungary in an interview.

Innovation is set to take centre-stage in the new European Commission, which could mean having an 'innovation super-commissioner', a special advisor on innovation or even handing ultimate control to the Commission president.

Fusing knowledge from art and science is central to pushing the boundaries of innovation in Europe, according to Leonel Moura, a European creativity ambassador and a conceptual artist who has invented robots which can create their own paintings.

A leading thinker on creativity believes attracting talented people is the driving force behind successful cities. In an interview with EurActiv, Richard Florida, author of 'The Rise of the Creative Class', said European countries are battling to attract and retain innovative people.

Maintaining the scope and funding of European R&D projects is vital to EU economic recovery, Istvan Varga, Hungary’s minister for national development and economy, told EurActiv in an interview.

Maintaining the scope and funding of European R&D projects is vital to the EU's economic recovery, Istvan Varga, Hungary's minister for national development and the economy, told EurActiv in an interview.

A report to be published in a month's time lambasts national recovery plans for failing to achieve global coordination of innovation policies to combat the recession. It concludes that a massive global conference on innovation is needed to promote cross-border collaboration.

Traditional media organisations are not well positioned to cover innovation, according to David Nordfors, director of the VINNOVA Research Center of Innovation Journalism at Stanford University. In an interview with EurActiv, Nordfors said newsrooms tend to divide issues into sections like business, technology and politics, but described innovation as an horizontal issue which cuts across several topics.

Human resources and flexibility in the workplace are the primary ingredients in fostering an innovative culture, Professor Bengt-Åke Lundvall, an innovation researcher at Aalborg University in Denmark, told EurActiv in an interview.

The European Union is wasting billions by investing in new research projects which have already been done by other European scientists, Roland Strauss of Knowledge4Innovation told EurActiv in an interview. Improved communication between research institutes and better use of existing patents could lead to sizeable savings, he said. 

The chairman of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT), Martin Schuurmans, has denied claims by a leading academic that the institute's flagship innovation projects will become "monopolies of knowledge".

The EU will pump additional funds into research as part of its budget for 2013-2021 in a bid to innovate its way out of economic decline, according to European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering.

Based on the recommendations of one of its former prime ministers, Finland is set for a complete overhaul of innovation policy and its management. Plans for market-oriented innovation and tax incentives to attract foreign brains to the country are set to be adopted in August, the head of Finland's innovation policy told EurActiv in an interview.

EU firms are struggling to better exploit public-funded research and transform findings into patents and innovations that generate growth. Barriers to collaboration between the public and private sectors still exist, in particular when it comes to sharing revenues and costs.

Supporting creative industries through better intellectual property protection and the development of world-class IT infrastructure must become a priority for the EU, at a time when China and India are catching up on research and scientific innovation, Slovenia's Minister for Growth Ziga Turk told EurActiv ahead of the Spring Summit.