Communication for innovation

In a communication presented on 6 October 2010, the European Commission maps out the road towards the Innovation Union, marking a new milestone for this flagship initiative launched as part of the Europe 2020 strategy. The communication details comprehensive and decisive action to achieve Innovation Union and underlines the need for political determination. Designed to boost green growth and social progress, the Innovation Union would concentrate Europe's combined efforts on key challenges such as climate change, energy and food security, health and the demographic change linked to an ageing population. The strategy to bring it about calls for public sector intervention to stimulate the private sector and eliminate the factors that complicate entrepreneurial efforts to bring innovative ideas to market.

Improved access to finance, encouragement for innovation through public procurement, rapid standard setting and measures to overcome the fragmentation of research systems and markets are examples of actions that can help transform bright ideas into cutting-edge products and services.

Actions such as these are designed to support the emergence of a knowledge-based economy, and would go a long way towards meeting the Europe 2020 target of boosting R&D (research and development) expenditure to 3% of GDP (gross domestic product). According to recent research into the cost of a non-innovative Europe, this level of investment could create up to 3.7 million jobs and increase annual GDP by as much as EUR 795 million by 2025. To unleash the full potential of the Innovation Union, 1 million more researchers will be needed.

News source: Cordis link: article