CORDIS Archive

January, 1998

Editorial Innovation Programme News Innovation projects: biological pest control; award-winning filters * Innovation Programme videos * I-TEC funds launched * IRC Automotive Thematic Group at Autotech '97 * Innovation Management Techniques: the ANIMATE project * 'Innovation across Cultural Borders' on the WWW * Innovation Programme evaluated * Call for Tender: IPR HelpDesk * EIMS study: innovation and employment Policy News Industrial technologies conference * Liberalising telecommunications in Europe * Biotechnology and Finance Forum launched Dossier The Factory of the Future Case Study JRC: nuclear war on cancer Publications and Conferences

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Editorial

Employment in Europe

The Extraordinary European Council Meeting on Employment, held in Luxembourg last November, underlined Europe's commitment to tackle unemployment, with the Council deciding that the relevant provisions of the Treaty of Amsterdam should be put into effect immediately. The coordination of employment policy across Europe is no longer on the horizon - it is here.

Employment guidelines will be elaborated and specific targets set. These will be monitored with the same vigour as the economic convergence criteria for Monetary Union. Education and training feature prominently in these guidelines, as does risk capital. A number of Commission Programmes are active in these fields, all focusing on creating a knowledge-based Europe - the best guarantor of employment that we have.

The SOCRATES and LEONARDO programmes, for example, are already improving competitiveness and combating unemployment and social exclusion by raising skill levels throughout society. Similarly, the Innovation Programme's I-TEC scheme, carried out in collaboration with the European Investment Bank, is helping improve access to risk capital for innovative SMEs.

Finally, the Fifth Framework Programme for R&D, to be launched this year, will focus Europe's scientific, technological and human resources on raising competitiveness, employment and sustainable growth.