Innovation as the key to the EU’s global relevance

Europe needs a decade of deep reform – harmoniously stated the participants of the conference ‘Innovation as the key to he EU’s global position’, which was held on 30 June 2010 in Warsaw. The event, organized by demosEUROPA – Centre for European Reform and the Ernst&Young ‘Better Government’ Programme, was accompanied by the presentation of the report Turning Gaps into Niches. For a new innovation paradigm in Central Europe.

During the first part of the conference, prof. Ziga Turk, former Slovenian Minister of Economic Growth, Secretary General of the expert group for the Future of Europe led by Felipe Gonzales, gave a speech ‘Innovation and the Future of Europe’. He maintains that neither quantity (population size, demographic structure) nor quality (investment in R&D, scientific production) is Europe’s strong side. Our strength lies in our specific culture, favorable to innovation. The main tasks for the EU is now to create mechanisms that will facilitate the use of this potential in tackling the challenges that Europe will be facing in XXI century. Ziga Turk stressed the need for the reform of the public sector, responsible for 50% of GDP, while it has to a large extend ‘missed’ the digital revolution.

The second part of the conference was an expert discussion, attended by: Patricia Reilly, member of cabinet of Maire Geoghengan-Quinn, EU Commissioner for Innovation; Tjark de Lange, co-founder of the Brussels based think tank Lisbon Council; Lars Kolte, the main Danish negotiator in the talks about the Denmark’s participation in European Spallation Source project in Lund; Diogo Vasconcelos, former advisor to the President of Portugal and Commissioner Barosso, one of the authors of the Lisbon Strategy, currently a member of an expert group working on  a new innovativeness indicator for the use of the EU.

Patricia Reilly outlined the EU plan of action for the next six months in the field of innovation. Commissioner of Innovation works in close cooperation with other commissioners, in order to present the Strategy for the Innovative Union, which will be one of the flagship projects of Europe2020 Strategy. Besides, by fall this year first Innovation Partnerships are to be established, supported by the European Commission. It is expected that the Belgian Presidency in the EU Council will overcome the deadlock around the European Patent.

Further discussion was concerned mainly with the relation between the public and private sphere with regard to innovativeness. Tjark de Lange recalled the example of the Dutch shipwright industry, which became much more effective and innovative after it was denied state financial support. He pointed to European public universities, which tend to be merely ‘good’, while none of them can reach the top 10 best universities of the world. In response, Lars Kolte spoke of the question economies of scale. The European Spallation Source that will be built in Lund is in his opinion an example of a project that could not come into being without the participation of several governments. Most of the participants agreed that the economic crisis, and the pressure for fiscal consolidation that follows, might force innovative changes in public sector that in most EU countries has not yet undergone sufficient reform.

 

Conference materials:

Ziga Turk, Innovation & the Future of Europe

Krzysztof Rybiński, The emerging international order and the role of innovation. Introductory remarks

Paweł Zerka (ed.), Turning Gaps into Niches. For a new innovation paradigm in Central Europe