Innovation does not begin when research ends - Busquin
'Innovation does not begin when research ends,' claimed Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin at a conference organised by the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations (EARTO) on 6 April in Madrid, Spain. The Commissioner drew attention to increasing integration between research and innovation. '[Innovation] is present from the conception of a research project and accompanies it through its course. Innovation is an integral part of the entire new research framework programme.' 'There was a time when research and innovation were the same thing,' said Mr Busquin, referring to Louis Pasteur, who researched molecule interaction and then developed a vaccine against rabies. He added that a dichotomy or antinomy has since developed between research and innovation in Europe, which has weakened both research and the exploitation of results. 'This difficulty, holds to account a particular culture, which includes a lack of entrepreneurial spirit, a fear of taking risks and the tendency to selfishly appropriate the results of public research, is built on a linear and consequential vision or research and innovation,' said the Commissioner. Part of the solution is to increase collaboration between universities, industry and research institutes, said Mr Busquin, who added that this can be achieved through the integrated projects and networks of excellence included in the Commission's proposals for the next research framework programme.