Can we raise our performance?
he latest European Innovation Scoreboard, published in November, shows that Europe is still trailing the US and Japan on most of the available indicators. Whilst the poorer performing EU Member States – and the acceding countries – generally appear to be catching up on the higher-ranked countries, Europe’s performance overall is not that of the world’s innovation leader. Building up momentum in innovation policies is critical if Europe is to have any chance of improving its competitiveness on the world market.
The Trend Chart on Innovation, of which the Innovation Scoreboard is one part, has been developed by the European Commission to help Europe’s policy-makers address innovation more fully in their thinking. After four years of activities, the first phase of the initiative has concluded successfully.
Later this year, the Commission plans to adopt a new action plan on innovation, to take forward a range of initiatives, and the Trend Chart will occupy a pivotal position in this. But the limits in potential action at EU level are becoming evermore apparent: it is the individual countries, regions, companies, and entrepreneurs that must be convinced not only of the importance of innovation in general but of their role in developing competitiveness.
As EU enlargement moves closer – in just four months, ten new Member States will join the Union – innovation-support initiatives are already well established in the acceding countries.
November 2003
