Commission puts forward proposal for a Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme
The European Commission has outlined how it intends to boost Europe's competitiveness and innovation through a new programme, to run from 2007 until 2013 with a budget of 4.2126 billion euro. The Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) is the Commission's response to calls for greater coherence and synergy between the Community programmes and instruments relevant to the Lisbon strategy, bringing together the Commission's current activities in these fields. The programme will comprise three sub-programmes: the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme, the ICT [information and communication technology] Policy Support Programme, and the Intelligent Energy - Europe Programme. The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme will bring together activities relating to entrepreneurship, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), industrial competitiveness and innovation. 'Insufficient innovation is a major cause of Europe's disappointing growth performance,' states the CIP proposal. 'The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme will therefore support horizontal activities to improve, encourage and promote innovation (including eco-innovation) in enterprises. This will include fostering sector-specific innovation, clusters, public-private innovation partnerships, and the application of innovation management,' the paper continues. This programme will also address access to finance, which is often quoted as a barrier to entrepreneurship and enterprise innovation. It will do this through Community Financial Instruments operated on behalf of the Commission by the European Investment Fund (EIF). For example, the High Growth and Innovative SME Facility (GIF) will 'share risk and reward with private equity investors providing important leverage for the supply of equity to innovative companies,' according to the Commission. The SME Guarantee Facility will continue to provide counter or co-guarantees for guarantee schemes, and direct guarantees to financial intermediaries. The second of the three programmes - the ICT Policy Support Programme - will promote the adoption of ICT in businesses, administrations and public sector services. These actions have previously been funded under the eTEN, eContent and MODINIS programmes. The programme will build on lessons learned from these three programmes, and will increase synergies between them. The programme will also be a means for supporting actions identified under the new i2010 initiative. 'Although most financial support for the deployment and best use of ICT comes from the private sector and the Member States, Community support enables, in particular, the development of common approaches and coordinated actions, the sharing of good practices and the deployment of interoperable solutions across the Union,' states the proposal. The Intelligent Energy - Europe Programme will be continued and enlarged under CIP. The programme's objective is to support sustainable development as it relates to energy, and to contribute to the achievement of the general goals of environmental protection, security of supply and competitiveness. It does this by focusing on the removal of non-technical barriers, the creation of market opportunities, and by raising awareness. Under CIP, the programme will seek to facilitate the implementation of the energy regulatory framework, to increase the level of investment in new and effective technologies, and to increase both the uptake and demand for energy efficiency, renewable energy and energy diversification. The programme will have three separate strands: energy efficiency and the rational use of energy, particularly in the building and industry sectors (SAVE); new and renewable energy sources for the production of electricity and heat, as well as their integration into the local environment and energy systems (ALTENER); and the energy aspects of transport (STEER). Each of the three programmes under CIP will have their own management committees and work programmes, but some implementation instruments may be used for more than one programme. 'The CIP will therefore be simpler than the current arrangements where multiple funding schemes and instruments coexist,' states the Commission. Community financial instruments and networking activities will be common to all three programmes, as will support from business and innovation services such as CORDIS. Other implementing measures will include pilot projects, policy analyses, support to joint actions of Member States or regions, procurement based on technical specifications, and twinning between authorities at national and regional level. The Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme will run alongside the Seventh Framework Programme for research. The programmes will be 'complementary and mutually reinforcing', according to the Commission. 'The CIP will address both technological as well as non-technological aspects of innovation. With respect to technological innovation, it will focus on the downstream parts of the research and innovation process. More specifically, it will promote innovation support services for technology transfer and use, projects for the implementation and market take-up of existing new technologies in fields like ICT, energy and environmental protection, as well as the development and coordination of national and regional innovation programmes and policies,' the proposal explains.