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 hilst the creation of new enterprises is quite strong in candidate countries, too few are of a high-technology, high-growth character needed to sustain strong innovative performance. Public research institutions often have long histories of first-rate science, but have been slow to reorient themselves to the needs of business.
To develop the innovation performance of the candidate countries – indeed, of the enlarged Union overall – will require concerted, long-term efforts from the candidate countries themselves. Furthermore, existing Member States need to support these efforts by sharing experience, tools and know-how.
To date, innovation policies are much less developed in the candidate countries than in the EU. Whilst most have science and technology councils, these are still focused more on basic research, with limited business representation, if any. As in most Member States, the overlapping of departments involved in innovation policy presents problems. A positive sign is the influence of many stakeholders, such as business clubs and technology parks, in persuading governments of the importance of innovation.
Figure:
Member States and candidate countries –
employment in medium-/high-tech manufacturing
Click to enlarge
Close to EU policies
Recent policy developments show that most candidate countries have designed their measures in line with the thinking of the 2000 Communication, even if it did not formally address them. Hungary and Estonia both stand out in terms of the scale of their innovation promotion initiatives, whilst Turkey also has a welldeveloped policy framework for science and technology.
In terms of co-operation between Member States and candidate countries, geographical and cultural proximity appear to be the main factors in partnerships. The Nordic countries work closely with the Baltic states, while Austria and Hungary, and Greece and Cyprus have also set up partnerships. Co-operation takes many forms, ranging from twinning arrangements between universities or technology parks, through jointly implemented policy studies to training and funding for innovation support services. Perhaps the Estonia-Finland partnership is seen as the most extensive, with Estonia having studied the Finnish model for many years, with a view to adopting it in its own context.
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The view from Estonia
Kitty Kubo, from Estonia’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, examines innovation issues in her country.
In the past decade, Estonia has created the image of being ‘small and open’. Successful macroeconomic reforms have been rewarded with high rates of growth. But in the longer term, the picture may not be as rosy. The key challenge will be to sustain similar growth rates. Increasing innovative capacity of firms, particularly in the emerging technologies, we believe will generate new business opportunities.
We can only talk of conscious innovation policy-making in Estonia during the last couple of years. In the coming years, the main issues to be tackled include linking long-term policies and short-term decision-making, while improving horizontal coordination; raising awareness of innovation and developing innovation skills and know-how across all economic actors; creating trust and developing networking and co-operation; and providing incentives to longer-term strategic planning in companies. | |
