Call for ‘creative destruction’ of EU institutions
The director of the EPPA has called for radical changes to the European Union at the Open Innovation 2.0 conference held in the Irish capital.
Speaking to delegates at The Convention Centre Dublin, Professor Stefan Schepers, director of the EPPA, stated that the worrying trend in recent European Parliamentary elections was “not the way people voted but rather that 60% did not vote” and outlined the “systemic disconnect of EU Institutions from the reality of lives of citizens”. He added that “the institutions and governance structure in Europe needs radical overhaul”.
“The current system of governance in Europe and in the member states was born out of the industrial revolution and not capable of handling the complexity of a digital world,” noted Schepers. “The Lisbon Treaty is no more than a reshuffling of powers between the EU institutions and National Governments. Innovative thinking is needed to redesign how Europe works and to recreate a systemic connection to the real needs and concerns of citizens. I’m arguing for a new vision for European institutions that would creatively restructure them around common ground for business, public authorities and citizens.”
He continued to speak of three challenges for Europe at the conference, commenting that “Europe needs to rediscover democratic legitimacy and create shared decision making and accountability using the tools of ICT as enablers. It needs to manage through evidence-based policies and research programme the dilemma of matching pressures around economic competitiveness and ecological resilience and it needs to restructure the institutions and systems of governance through Open Innovation 2.0.”
Open Innovation 2.0 Conference is brought to Dublin in collaboration with the European Commission, Open Innovation and Strategy Policy Group, Intel Labs Europe and Dublin City Council and was attended by Horizon 2020 Projects. The conference discusses how a more accelerated European economic recovery and societal development can be driven by adoption of Open Innovation policies.
