Prodi urges investment in top quality research
In a speech at the German confederation of trade unions' (DGB) Federal Presidium in Brussels on 7 November, Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission emphasised the need to invest in top quality research. Mr Prodi referred to the Lisbon European Council, where European heads of State and government pledged to modernise Europe's economy and society by making Europe the most dynamic knowledge-based society in the world. 'Clearly, there can be no knowledge-based economy without knowledge. That is why we need to invest in top-quality research', said Mr Prodi. Mr Prodi outlined the necessary moves for making Europe the most dynamic knowledge-based society in the world. These include: - investing much more in research and communications; - getting all our schools and universities online; - educating our young people for the digital age; - training and retraining our workforce; - giving people new skills for the new economy; - and restoring the right conditions for full employment. The need to develop efficient means to disseminate knowledge rapidly and to train digitally literate workers in IT skills were also highlighted by Mr. Prodi, but this must be done without creating new divisions: 'the new technologies must not widen the gap between rich and poor, skilled and unskilled. That would aggravate social exclusion and social exclusion is, quite simply, unacceptable', he said.