Innovation platform springs to life
What is innovation? And how do we define innovation? How should European organisations go about innovating? And what can EU actors do to solve Europe's 'innovation paradox'? Innovation has been a buzzword in European circles for some time. The questions of how to pin down the concept and create the conditions for Europe to successfully capitalise on its quality research are two of the objectives of the newly created European Innovation Dialogue (EID) network. The platform brought European innovation players together at its first Interest Group Meeting to facilitate a dialogue on innovation and to pool knowledge together for everyone's benefit. According to Christina Kaul, Senior Vice President at Waggener Edstrom and one of the first organisations to join the EID, 'The European Innovation Dialogue will be a pan-European focused platform to better connect the different innovation players at different levels, from the regions to industry to EU policy makers.' The meeting saw a procession of innovation actors and policy makers at different levels, from financial institutions to industry and from universities to regional organisations and the European Commission. The common thread was how the platform could nurture innovation in Europe. It was agreed that the only way this could be achieved is if the platform finds a common position on a range of issues. Ms Kaul said: 'if we can find a common position on innovation policy which we think we can successfully communicate to the policy level then we could impact EU policy on innovation for the better.' According to Geoff Gregson, Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Edinburgh University, there is an untapped need for discussions on a range of integrated issues innovation actors are involved with; from entrepreneurship and business development to innovation policy. He said: 'I found the range of integrated topics discussed at the event was quite unique for the EID. There is a European focus and a wish to take a top-down, bottom-up approach to issues so as to narrow the gap between all the policy makers at different levels.' In fact, the raison d'etre of the EID will be to plug that gap when it is officially formalised in mid 2007, and then starts work in September. It will also have to answer the persistent questions of what exactly innovation is, and how it can be brought about in Europe.