Green Paper on Innovation - Summary reports on the national conferences
The "Green Paper on Innovation" was launched by the European Commission, in December 1995, with the purpose of encouraging debate and paving the way for a genuine European strategy to promote innovation. The Paper identified obstacles to innovation in Europe and set out proposals for a number of priority actions. As part of its consultation process, the European Commission organized a series of national conferences to discuss the proposals and issues put forward in the Green Paper. A total of 17 national conferences were held, one in each EU Member State plus Iceland and Norway, followed by a "summing-up" conference in Rome, on 29 May 1996. The conferences offered a platform for government representatives, local authorities, economic and industrial players, as well as researchers and academics, to exchange their experiences and ideas on the subject of innovation with a view to improving the synergy and effectiveness of the innovation policies implemented at regional, national and European level. The conclusions drawn at each national conference were summarized in a report prepared by the European Commission. Six of these summary reports (The Netherlands, Finland, Italy, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom) are now available in electronic format and may be consulted on the CORDIS World Wide Web server at: http://cordis.europa.eu/innovation/src/natconf.htm The remaining reports will be placed on the Web as and when they become available.