Europe 2020 Flagship Initiative "The Innovation Union"
The “Innovation Union” is one of the seven flagship initiatives announced in the Europe 2020 Strategy. It addresses the challenges and opportunities facing Europe in key areas where sustained innovative efforts are required, and aims to improve conditions and access to finance for research and innovation. The document describes the key European, national and regional initiatives needed to create the Innovation Union, making this Communication from the European Commission highly relevant in regional policy development.
Description
The innovation Union is to be the answer for the basis of Europe’s future competitiveness and growing societal challenges, among which climate change, the scarcity of resources and demographic changes. The projected benefits are considerable: achieving the target of spending 3% of EU GDP on R&D by 2020 could create 3.7 million jobs and increase annual GDP by nearly €800 billion by 2025. In order to achieve the Innovation Union, the following 10-item strategy is proposed:
- Member States need to continue to invest in education, R&D, innovation and ICT;
- Reforms should ensure more value for money and tackle fragmentation;
- Education systems at all levels need to be modernised;
- The European Research Area must be completed in four years;
- Access to EU-programmes must be simplified;
- Research must lead to innovation more often;
- Barriers for innovation, such as expensive property rights and access to finance, must be removed;
- European Innovation Partnerships should be launched to accelerate research, starting with the area of health ageing;
- Social innovation must be stimulated;
- Cooperation with international partners must be improved.
The Annex provides a usefull self-assessment tool, as well as a Performance Scoreboard for Research and Innovation.
Joint endeavour
Collective effort of the EU Institutions with other stakeholders is key to the success of the Innovation Union. The Member States and their regions should ensure that the necessary governance structures are put in place where these do not yet exist. They should conduct thorough self assessments, and look for ways to reform their systems to promote excellence, foster closer co-operation and pursue smart specialisation from an EU perspective. They should review their operational programmes co-financed by the Structural Funds, in line with priorities fixed under Europe 2020, and seek to allocate additional resources to research and innovation. The National Reform Programmes, which are due by April 2011, should identify what specific steps they will take, by when and if expenditure is involved how this will be accounted for. Stakeholders (business, local authorities, social partners, foundations, NGOs) are invited to support the Innovation Union through the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions.
Publication Date
October 2010