EU innovation strategy delayed until ‘autumn’

The European Commission will publish a new 'Research and Innovation Plan' ahead of an autumn meeting of EU leaders in Brussels. The plan, first floated last year as the European Innovation Act, was originally to be published by spring 2010.

The document is currently being drafted by Innovation Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn and Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani and will take a broad approach to boosting innovation.

Tajani explicitly dismissed suggestions that the six-month delay in publishing the plan resulted from difficulties between his directorate and Commission services working for Geoghegan-Quinn.

Commissioner Tajani had told MEPs at his parliamentary hearing that the innovation plan would be published before the summer but yesterday (17 March) said it would appear before the end of 2010.

"We are working in perfect harmony together and will present an ambitious innovation plan by the end of the year," he said.

He said the new plan would "take the broadest possible approach to innovation in business," and would propose a new generation of financial products designed to get funds flowing to innovative small businesses.

"Innovation is a much broader concept than R&D," Tajani added.  

Geoghegan-Quinn also stressed that the two had good relations and said the "research and innovation" plan would be jointly produced in time for the autumn meeting of European heads of state and government.

She acknowledged that a lot of work had been done by the Commission's enterprise directorate, which drafted the plan, and that would be developed and incorporated into the new document.

However, she added that research and development had "taken centre stage" in the EU's 2020 growth strategy and the new document would take account of this.

The Commissioners were speaking at the launch of the annual innovation scoreboard, which ranks member states' capacity for innovation.

The new figures, which date from 2008, showed steady improvement by most member states but noted that the economic crisis has hampered progress and stalled the EU's efforts to catch up with the US.

As in previous years, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Sweden and the UK were lauded as "innovation leaders," and Bulgaria, Latvia and Romania were at the bottom of the league.

Geoghegan-Quinn said Europe maintained a strong lead over the emerging 'BRIC' economies – Brazil, Russia, India and China – but acknowledged that China could close the gap by the end of the decade.

Both commissioners also reaffirmed their support for setting a spending target of 3% of GDP. The target has been the subject of much controversy, with finance ministers yesterday calling for a new "outcome-oriented" measure of success rather than a fixed spending target (EURACTIV 17/03/10).

Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn said it was "no coincidence" that the countries at the top of the innovation scoreboard are those closest to the 3% target.

She acknowledged that finance ministers may be tempted to cut research spending in an effort to control fiscal deficits, but said "nothing improves public finances in the medium term like strong growth, and research and innovation are the key to achieving the growth we need".

Geoghegan-Quinn added that she would set up an expert panel of economists and innovation experts to help find "an effective indicator to capture overall research and innovation performance," and will take their recommendations to an subcommittee of commissioners dedicated to innovation.

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