Innovation partnerships - Parliament backs plan to tackle "societal challenges"

A resolution backing the EU "innovation partnerships" scheme, which aims to bring together EU, national and regional players across policy areas and industries to tackle specific societal challenges, was passed in Parliament on Thursday. The first partnership, on "Active and Healthy Ageing", should be launched in early 2011. The "innovation partnerships" scheme is part of the European Commission's "Innovation Union flagship initiative", announced in October. Parliament welcomes the Commission's plan to run a pilot project on "active and healthy ageing", the proposed first partnership topic, to test the most suitable format for such partnerships.

Besides active and healthy ageing, the pilot project should also include "social innovation which leads to a better quality of life, prevents diseases and improves social networks within public sectors", says the resolution. However, the Commission should also consider existing European and national structures when setting up partnerships and assess how to incorporate them, without unnecessarily creating new ones, says the resolution, which stresses that funding should be secured by effectively pooling the resources of the EU, Member States, regions and other public and private players, while respecting transparency, openness and equal opportunities.

MEPs consider that the proposed partnerships on "smart cities" and "raw materials" would benefit most immediately from the value-added created by promoting resource efficiency and efficient production throughout the supply chain. The "Smart cities" partnership would focus on improving energy, transport and infrastructure efficiency and management, while the "raw materials" one would deal with security of supply of raw materials, including their sustainable extraction, processing, recycling and substitution. Lastly, Parliament calls on the Commission to inform MEPs of the progress and results of the "active and healthy ageing" pilot project, and to state clearly how Parliament is to be involved in determining the strategic direction of future partnerships.

Neqws source: EU Press Room link: article