A call to stimulate innovation

The Lisbon Strategy and innovation policy, better regulation and the need to enhance competitiveness in Europe will be the key subjects discussed at the Competitiveness Council to be held in Brussels today. The EU Ministers for Industry, the Internal Market and Research will debate the Valencia Declaration, which sets out innovation policy priorities.

The declaration was adopted at the first Europe Innova Conference, held from November 26 to 28 in Valencia. Europe Innova was set up by the European Commission, as an initiative of the Directorate General responsible for Enterprise and Industry, to take up the challenge of economic growth and employment.

Indeed, Europe is lagging behind the US and Japan and needs to stimulate innovation by businesses in the EU. In view of all this Europe Innova seeks to reinforce networking by innovation professionals, through a combination of analytical and practical experiences on the ground. The first Innova Conference was consequently held in Valencia, one of Europe's most innovative regions, which has considerable experience in networking among businesses, universities and research institutions.

During this conference European innovation experts sent a strong signal to EU ministers and commissioners concerning the priority actions needed to ensure that the EU is competitive. The priorities were identified by the votes of the 600 innovation professionals who took part.

Facing globalisation and a more competitive international environment, the EU feels the need to step up investment in innovation across Europe. The Valencia declaration sets out 20 points for action. These are the results of feedback collected during the conference from the innovation specialists, researchers, cluster managers, CEOs, investors and others who were present.

The declaration calls on the Commission and member states to foster a more innovation-friendly environment for SMEs and to help them gain access to private funding. It stresses the need to reinforce innovation networking between SMEs and large contractors from both the private and public sectors, encouraged and supported at national and European levels.

The declaration states that the EU urgently needs a cost-effective and user-friendly system of intellectual property protection and reiterates that "the protection of intellectual property must not interfere with open access to public goods and public knowledge".

"The deadlock on the proposed Community patent needs to be brought to an end. The innovation community favours a single jurisdiction and a cost-effective language regime," the declaration says.

It adds that member states should take concrete measures to stimulate innovation and research through improved public procurement practices and facilitate the access and participation of SMEs in public procurement markets.

The declaration goes on to mention the need to develop regional innovation policies as well as the need to strengthen the links between research and industry in Europe while it recommends that better use should be made of "the employment opportunities that the areas of eco-innovation and sustainable developments are offering".

Finally the declaration suggests that a European Institute of Technology should be established to help improve Europe's innovation capacity and performance by bridging excellence across the fields of education, research and innovation.

Mr Vella is the consultation coordinator at Forum Malta fl-Ewropa.