Liikanen proposes new perception of innovation
Enterprise and Information Society Commissioner, Erkki Liikanen, opened the Third European forum for innovative enterprises in Stockholm on 8 April with a call for the development of 'a more complete view of innovation, one that stresses those special skills of organisation and entrepreneurship that are essential in order to innovate successfully'. Recognising the importance of biotechnology and new information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the last decade, he nevertheless emphasised that innovation is not necessarily dependent on research. 'With the expanding importance of the service sector, and of business models built on new methods of organisation, innovations with far-reaching consequences are often not research-related,' he said. 'Even when a new technology is involved, the key issues are often not of a technological nature. That this is so is demonstrated by the dynamics of many Internet-related firms and industries'. Citing the example of progress in ICT, he warned that technological innovation is often 'not being matched by the organisational innovation that is necessary to extract full advantage for the customer'. Skills of 'entrepreneurial innovation' were required to respond to this situation, said Mr Liikanen, so the Commission will publish a Communication later this year on a European innovation policy to foster entrepreneurial innovation. European entrepreneurship days will also be staged in cooperation with some of Europe's leading cities of innovation. Noting that the Barcelona European Council called for a more favourable environment for entrepreneurship and competitiveness, he added that the Commission would have a Green Paper on entrepreneurship ready in time for next year's Spring Council. Recognising the contribution of knowledge to competitiveness, however, the Commission will also, by next spring, propose measures to integrate better innovation into a European Knowledge Area. The Commission's Innovation Scoreboard for 2001 contained food for thought on the relationship between research and innovation, according to Mr Liikanen: 'It is interesting to note that countries with the most developed knowledge base are not the same as those, such as Italy, where the entrepreneurial drive is strongest'. He added that the Commission is exploring how the scoreboard can be developed to give it a regional dimension, looking at innovation in more detail than the country level. Extended coverage to include the candidate countries, which have applied for EU membership, is also planned. Mr Liikanen was speaking to the European Forum for Innovative Enterprises (Stockholm, 8 to 9 April 2002), the third such annual meeting of European and international experts in the field of innovation. The conference is organised by the European Commission in co-operation with the City of Stockholm under the Innovation and SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) Programme. It is primarily concerned with the questions of how to provide favourable conditions for promoting innovation in the EU and how public authorities can encourage the emergence of successful innovative firms.