Ile de France presents innovation policy
The regions have a key role to play in fostering innovation and thus helping Europe achieve the Lisbon objectives of growth and job creation. This was the resounding message from the Second Paris Region Economic Forum in Brussels on 26 June. Opening the conference, Gerhard Stahl, Secretary General of the Committee of the Regions, pointed out that although they are responsible for key areas like employment, training and innovation, many regions are not actively engaged in the Lisbon process. The Ile de France region has over 400,000 employees in 8,000 companies active in information and communications technologies (ICT), as well as the international headquarters of many international organisations and companies. However, the region's high potential for innovation is not being fulfilled. Although the regions in France do not normally have competence for innovation policy, Ile de France decided to pursue a policy of funding innovation, with a view to promoting the region as a centre of excellence. The region's research and innovation budget for 2006 was set at EUR 107 million, a figure which is set to rise to EUR 150 million by 2010. A lot of this money goes to support the formation of research clusters, which bring together researchers from large companies, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), universities and other research centres and help them to develop a common research agenda. By creating a critical mass of researchers in key areas, the region is able to promote itself more effectively at both national and international levels. The importance of local clusters reaching out to international partners was highlighted by a presentation on the OMNI-NET (Opto-Micro-Nano Innovative Network Exploiting Transversality) project, which is funded by the EU's Innova initiative under the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6). It is coordinated by OpticsValley, a network comprising Ile de France researchers working in the fields of optics, electronics and software engineering. The OMNI-NET project brings together 15 partners, including six local clusters, with the aim of sharing best 'cluster' practices and developing policy recommendations on cluster formation for regional, national and European authorities. Until now, clusters working on optics, microelectronics and nanotechnologies have worked largely in isolation. By working together, the clusters involved also hope to pave the way towards the development of a meta-cluster, which will permit researchers across the EU to coordinate their research and so help the industry compete more effectively on the global stage.
Countries
France