Lyon looks to 'a European innovation society'
As well as honouring the regions of excellence, participants in the second European forum on innovative enterprises debated ways to promote innovation in Europe in pursuit of the targets set by the Heads of state at the Lisbon summit earlier this year. A number of high level representatives from the Member States as well as countries outside the EU joined representatives from successful European high-tech companies to discuss what they believe is necessary for the sector to flourish in a global economy. Mia Hamalainen., co-founder of CODEONLINE, a Finnish global provider of mobile entertainment, was just one of the participants who contributed to this debate, highlighting in particular the importance of being constantly innovative. 'If you are not innovative you cannot guarantee success for any time to come,' she said. 'You have to allow mistakes. It's not easy but without these you cannot find new ways of thinking and learning, Excitement is also important. The atmosphere must be supportive if you want to keep good people.' Mrs Hamalainen believes Finland's success in the information and communication technology sector comes down to the fact that Finnish people know 'the only way to be profitable is to work globally. The most important secret of success in a global economy is the patent,' she added. As they shared their experiences of setting up high-tech companies, participants agreed the key issues are access to people with adequate skills, availability of capital and the need for networks. The European Union could help entrepreneurs in this sector by making it easier to access funding and reducing red tape, they said. Peter Hiscock of the Cambridge innovation centre, who steered a round table on this topic summarised: 'success can be enhanced by policy,' and he stressed the importance of a chain of knowledge, skills, finance, infrastructure, culture and early stage support. There was also concern over the decreasing number of students taking up engineering at degree level and the need to finance basic research to pave way for future innovation. Networking is also important for helping start-ups find the best graduates to hire, they agreed, particularly as most are reluctant to take on people they don't know. Olaf Berg, President of the Stockholm school of entrepreneurship was particularly struck by the impact of networking for the success of innovative start ups and a team at his institution is now studying the difference between entrepreneurship in the new economy and the traditional economy. 'We are wondering if innovation in the new economy is based on the ability to create networks more than personality,' a factor that has for a long time been considered vital in traditional entrepreneurship. 'This is one of the ways that academia can help concentrate and complement the environment of entrepreneurship in our region,' he says. Alain André, who is the managing director of the CICOM organisation (and one of the 15 PAXIS prize winners) added that 'some excellent ideas came forward' in another round table discussion on networking for success. 'Innovative efforts in isolation do not work well,' he said, 'we must work together. Transfer from laboratories and universities to industry is vital. We must act locally but think Europe.' Location is another important factor for high-tech start-ups, added Kimmo Halme, Chief planning officer for Finland's science and technology policy council. 'People, connections, transport infrastructure and quality of life in a region must be good to attract people from elsewhere.' 'To foster start ups in technology you need a strong background in technology,' said Jean Therme, Director of LETI/CEA (France). His position was similar to that of Mr Halme: 'You also need a strategy for intellectual property, a local environment to foster start ups and you need accompanying tools and policy as well as access to venture capital. Sites must be in attractive areas where there is coupling of research teaching and industry...and patents are extremely important. It's not just the number of patents but also the quality and capacity to protect yourself from attack and be prepared to go on the attack to protect your patent,' he added. 'You should accompany start-ups from the beginning and give them access to laboratories - and allow them back into the laboratory if they fail.' Participants also voiced concern over the need to speed up Community response to requests for help from start-ups. Calling for a reduction in the administrative part of writing a proposal, one participant explained: 'It takes two to three weeks to write a proposal and for start ups this is a lot of time...Especially if you're not sure of the result. It's also particularly hard for entrepreneurs and new companies to prove their management skills.' They also called for clarification of the rules for information property rights. 'We need to know who will own the results if you have cooperative research with lots of different partners,' said Paavo Uronen, Rector of the Helsinki University of Technology (Finland). The European Commissioner for Enterprise and information society, Erkki Liikanen, also participated in the forum. He stressed the spirit of enterprise and the importance of overall economic structures and networking between regions. 'I think that the real economic revolution will only take place when we see the merger of the old and the new economy. Information and communication technologies (ICT) lie at the heart of the technological revolution....The new entrepreneur will need to keep adapting to change.' Representing the French government, which is currently presiding over EU affairs, Christian Pierret, the French secretary of state for industry underlined his country's commitment to promoting innovation across Europe. France has already taken steps at home on this front he told the forum: 'On 12 August 1998 a bill went through the French Parliament to promote mobility of men and women in research. It looked particularly at research undertakings and at networking incubators and the creation of innovative companies. The measures cover all levels of financing and public innovation funding in order to channel savings towards innovative companies.' Now the French government want to set up a document on the key recommendations for the future, said Mr Pierret who plans to hold an Internet forum to focus on three proposals: - for a legal framework for industrial property; - for a European specification for innovation to see where Europe stands with respect to other areas and to measure achievements. - to facilitate the creation of a European financial network covering financing needs for undertakings. 'The [PAXIS] prize winners show how much we are committed to a new phase in Europe: 'a European innovation society'. We have a major challenge ahead of us in Europe and in the world-wide battle for innovation,' concluded the French Minister.
Countries
France