European innovation looks to the east
The Inno-Policy TrendChart maps innovation across Europe and many other parts of the world in an effort to contribute to policymaking and promote good practice. The EU-funded project 'Benchmarking Russia and Ukraine with respect to the Innovation TrendChart' (BRUIT) aimed to research and articulate the innovation capacities and policies of Russia and Ukraine. The project sought to train Russian and Ukrainian partners in order to enhance the integration of the two countries into Inno-Policy TrendChart and contribute to a stronger European Neighbourhood Policy. BRUIT organised meetings and events with partners from Russia and Ukraine throughout 2007, including workshops on restructuring public research institutions and policy monitoring. The workshops hosted representatives from various ministries, among other stakeholders. Moreover, the project partners from Russia and Ukraine collected data about 15 Ukrainian innovation policies and 17 Russian ones to help promote research and innovation. They also amassed socioeconomic data for 26 indicators that make up the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) in order to calculate a summary innovation index (SII) for the two countries. The data revealed that out of 36 countries, Russia and Ukraine ranked 27th and 35th, respectively, highlighting a strong need to encourage innovation and research. The final 2007 Ukraine and Russia Inno-Policy TrendChart country reports were presented at a workshop in January 2008. The reports mapped the national innovation systems in both countries and highlighted main innovation policy challenges faced by each country. Overall, these efforts helped Russia and Ukraine identify their innovation progress and have outlined the next step in spurring competitiveness and promoting collaboration with Europe in this respect.
