France to create agency for industrial innovation
France is to create an agency for 'industrial innovation' to support projects in the sectors of the future, French President Jacques Chirac has announced. Speaking to an audience of businesses, associations and trade unions on 4 January, Mr Chirac explained that the government will channel two billion euro a year into a fund to back research and investment. The money is expected to come from the revenues of the state's planned sales of companies such as Electricité de France and Areva. 'One must be on the offensive to conquer the markets of tomorrow,' explained Mr Chirac. 'This entails giving ourselves the means of a great industrial ambition. In my eyes this is a national priority. Our responsibility today is to launch the Ariane or Airbus programmes of tomorrow,' he added. 'Each time companies, in cooperation with mid-sized businesses, invest in innovative industrial programmes, the government will invest the same,' Mr Chirac pledged. The president explained that the research fields he would like to encourage include solar energy, secured broadband, low-pollution cars and new treatments for infectious or neurodegenerative diseases. 'The state will contribute to accelerating the commitment of our major companies in the sectors of the future but it is them who will drive their own development strategies in these new markets,' added the president. According to Mr Chirac, this initiative is not only valid for France. Coming as it does under the umbrella of the Lisbon strategy, it could gain widespread acceptance among other European countries. The French government's decision comes following a report on how France and the rest of Europe can stimulate economic growth through technological innovation. The report, prompted by fears that Europe is being left behind on new technology and is not doing enough to create jobs in industries of the future, was written by a team headed by Jean-Louis Beffa, chairman and chief executive of Saint-Gobain, the French glass group. In its report, the Beffa group warned that France suffers from a lack of coordination between public and private research; too little innovation; not enough investment and an insufficient industrial specialisation for the future. It therefore recommended the creation of an agency for industrial development, which would be in charge of identifying large programmes of industrial development. The working group also identified six priority areas: energy, transport, environment, health, security and the knowledge and communication society. Under each of these themes, the group then identified 50 projects that could become programmes. For example, Jean-Louis Beffa and his team suggested developing rapid sea transport or a new generation of high-speed trains. Each programme would have to answer precise criteria, such as: ensuring a technological leap; having a potential market; having a pre-existing industrial capacity and the prospect of making use of existing public and private research capacities. In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Beffa explained that public research investment needs to concentrate on projects which have the capacity to change the country's industrial and sector-base specialisation. 'Government funding should concentrate in areas of technology where there are not just good ideas but where there are good European companies, capable of bringing [projects] to commercial fruition,' he told the Financial Times. According to Mr Beffa, funding for European technology programmes such as Eureka has been too widely scattered and has failed to 'strengthen the strong'. European governments should focus more of their efforts on boosting their countries' technological prowess by funding large 'national champions' rather than small companies whose expansion possibilities are limited, believes Mr Beffa. Mr Beffa also suggested that Europe should follow the lead of Japan rather than continue the trend towards free market principles. 'In general, Japanese industry is highly technology-oriented and has been a success. Government action in Japan has played a big part in creating this state of affairs,' Mr Beffa told the Financial Times.
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France