CIP will have to be watered down under Council's budget deal, says Zourek
The Director General of the Commission's Enterprise and Industry DG, Heinz Zourek, has made a plea for innovation to be treated the same as research under the EU budget for 2007 to 2013, and has used the example of his home country Austria to show how an aggressive innovation policy can contribute the improvement of competitiveness. While research was not promised as much under the recent Council budgetary decision as the Commission had hoped for, the decision did allow for an increase in funding for European research. However, if this research is to lead to the creation of new products and new jobs, the innovation budget should receive similar treatment, said Mr Zourek. 'As it looks at the moment under the British Presidency compromise, we will not be able to start a number of different, new innovation actions due to a lack of mass. The continuation or extension of existing innovation services and cooperation projects has also become questionable,' said Mr Zourek. These will be the minimum consequences if innovation is not treated the same as research, he added. Mr Zourek backed up this claim with figures, saying that the December agreement would see the innovation budget for 2007 to 2013 fall to 80 per cent of its 2006 level. This means that the Commission's proposal for the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP) will have to be thinned out under the Austrian Presidency, he continued. The Director General used the example of Austria to show how effective innovation policies and programmes can be. The recent European Innovation Scoreboard puts Austria as one of the leading countries in the 'catching up' group of EU Member States. A few years ago, Austria was at the bottom of this group. 'This shows that a targeted policy of innovation funding, as you can see here in Austria, is effective in the medium term,' said Mr Zourek. Austria is likely to come close to the EU target of investing three per cent of GDP in research by 2010, said Mr Zourek. The country has also introduced structural reforms in relation to research funding, and legislation strengthening collaboration between universities and businesses. Mr Zourek praised Austria for adopting strategies that have already been tried and tested and found to be successful in other countries, and in turn said that Austria's performance will provide encouragement for countries such as Hungary and Slovenia. Emphasising that research funding alone is not enough to increase growth and competitiveness - the key goals of the EU's Lisbon strategy - Mr Zourek outlined what the EU is currently doing to support and encourage innovation and technology transfer. The Innovation Relay Centres (IRCs) have been central to the internationalisation of small technology firms, having contact with more than 70 per cent of companies in this category in 2005. Other initiatives include the PROTON project, which brought together 250 Knowledge Transfer Centres. Building on the success of these networks, the Commission intends to publish a communication in 2006, proposing ways to further improve partnerships between universities and business. 'Austria has shown how an aggressive research and innovation policy can lead to the improvement of economic framework conditions. Our hope for the Austrian Presidency, is that these positive experiences can now be carried further to the European level, so that together we can move Europe forwards,' concluded Mr Zourek.