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Padrão dos Descobrimentos, Lisbon: setting course for Europe's new ambitious goal. |
 n Lisbon in March 2000, European Union leaders set the ambitious goal of making Europe the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010(1). One of the key determinants of success will be Europe’s ability to develop more innovative business and industry. That requires changed attitudes, a more entrepreneurial approach to risk, better availability of finance, easier regulatory conditions for business, and closer links between the scientific and industrial worlds. Above all, innovation depends on connections, ideas sparked in conversations, introductions to people with complementary know-how and ideas, and the curiosity and drive to take up new ideas.
Developing and improving these conditions throughout Europe demands enormous efforts in a wide range of policy fields. There are no simple solutions and no shortcuts. It will require major, coordinated efforts by every stakeholder. Learning and sharing experiences with others is the most effective means of developing appropriate policy responses throughout Europe.
Trend Chart on Innovation
The European Trend Chart on Innovation has been designed to help and encourage this process. It comprises three related strands. The first is a database of innovation policies, measures and schemes implemented in 30 countries. Using this, policy-makers can identify initiatives that have worked elsewhere and assess their suitability for use in their own context. The second strand fosters more in-depth sharing of knowledge, through policy benchmarking workshops on specific topics, where practitioners present their experiences with their own schemes. The third component is the annual Innovation Scoreboard. This provides data for a set of indicators, allowing policy-makers to identify problem issues and set targets for improvement. The Commission is assisted in the implementation of Trend Chart work by the Group of Senior Officials, made up of national officials from the ministries or bodies concerned with innovation policy.
The Trend Chart provides the framework in which the Commission implements ‘open co-ordination’ of innovation policy in Europe. This method (see Open co-ordination) is being used more and more in the European Union to share policy ideas and experience between policy-makers from different countries and regions. The Innovation Scoreboard is one of several European scoreboards addressing many different policy areas. In particular, benchmarking in innovation complements very closely the overall enterprise benchmarking activities, which are also aimed at measuring progress towards achieving the Lisbon goal.
Europe values its diversity – indeed that can be regarded as a strength – and there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ policy response to the different situations and needs found across the continent. The process of transnational policy learning allows authorities to learn from the experience of others in tackling similar problems. They can see what worked in areas with similar characteristics to their own, and how their counterparts set about implementing policies to foster innovation. Most importantly, through personal contacts, policy-makers gain the opportunity to discuss the essence of these schemes, giving them real practical pointers to adapt policy to their own conditions.
The first part of this Innovation and Technology Transfer special edition looks at a wide range of innovation-support policies and initiatives introduced in European countries in the past too years or so, with the aim of working towards the Lisbon goal. In the second part, the results of the latest European Innovation Scoreboard are analysed. The graphics throughout this special edition are taken from the 2002 Scoreboard. |
