Commission to revamp EU ICT research strategy in 2009

The EU executive has launched a public consultation on ICT research and innovation, asking industry, experts and policymakers to help it overhaul the bloc’s agenda in this field.

Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding described the consultation as “the first step towards an integrated strategy for research and innovation in the ICT sector”. 

The consultation, launched on 4 September, aims to gather stakeholders’ views on the main challenges ahead for ICT research and innovation in the EU over the next decade. 

The strategy, set for publication in April 2009, is expected to set out key priorities and identify new areas on which the bloc should concentrate its efforts to become strategic leaders. Energy, health and ageing are among possible new areas of focus, as Reding said these challenges “can only be tackled if we deploy ICT solutions”. Europe is already considered the world industrial and technological leader in telecommunications and embedded systems.

The new strategy will also define the role of public policy in helping to make Europe the world leader in ICT innovation, addressing such issues as the creation of a consolidated EU market for ICT innovation. The role of complementary policy fields such as standardisation, licensing and intellectual property regimes will also be considered in view of adapting them to support the early commercialisation of research results.

The consultation follows an expert panel report on the effectiveness of EU-funded ICT research published earlier in the summer (EURACTIV 26/06/2008). The report, put together by former Finnish Prime Minister Esko Aho concluded that the effectiveness of Europe’s high-tech research is too often stifled by red tape, a lack of venture capital and a risk-averse mentality in both national and European administrations. 

It called for a “systemic change” to remove barriers to innovation and promote stronger interaction between users, researchers and business, in particular in regional innovation systems. It also called on politicians to equip the EU with more flexible tools “to better focus European high-tech research and to open it up to more risk and to new international partners”.

The consultation will remain open until 7 November 2008. 

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