European Union Outlines 10-Step Innovation Plan

Earlier this month, the European Commission laid out a broad-based innovation strategy to improve the Community’s ability to compete effectively in the global economy. Each of the 10 action items listed include several recommendations for the member states to implement individually, as well as select items at the Union level.

Regional innovation strategies comprise a central element of the planning and budgetary allocation of the action plan, and the list includes several components with relevance to the 50 states and the U.S. federal government.

The top priority is for member states and universities to establish innovation-friendly education systems to promote creativity and to focus curricula on skills consistent with a knowledge-based society. In addition, they should provide incentives for structured partnerships of universities with the business community. Finally, member states and universities should ensure that entrepreneurial, management and innovation skills development become an integral part of graduate education, research training and lifelong learning strategies for university staff.

On the Union level, the plan calls for establishment of a European Institute of Technology to serve as a central location for the best European students and researchers to work side by side with business in the development and exploitation of knowledge and research. The center also will train researchers while exploring long-term, interdisciplinary technology areas. More detailed plans for the institute are available at: http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/educ/eit/index_en.html

Several action items in the plan strive toward increased flexibility and standardization across institutions and member states to facilitate researcher mobility, university-industry collaboration, and labor and workforce attractiveness. Issues to be addressed are as varied and complex as intellectual property rights, research rights, assessment criteria, pension rights, tenure, and knowledge transferability.

The final action area calls for member states to stimulate innovation through procurement, regulatory change, and other efforts to implement strategy for innovation-friendly lead Markets in key technology areas such as eco-technologies.

The action plan memo is available on the Europa site at: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/06/325&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=fr

Links to this paper and more than 4,000 additional TBED-related research reports, strategic plans and other papers can be found at the Tech-based Economic Development (TBED) Resource Center, jointly developed by the Technology Administration and SSTI, at: http://www.tbedresourcecenter.org/.

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