Communication on research and innovation published
The European Commission has published a new Communication on ‘Research and Innovation as sources of renewed growth’. It is underpinned by the 2014 State of the Innovation Union report that details the steps taken since 2010 to implement the Innovation Union flagship initiative of the Europe 2020 growth strategy.
In the report, the Commission points out that “the European budget allocated to research and innovation was increased, despite a decrease in the overall EU budget for 2014-2020”, and that “despite the economic crisis, the Union has made progress towards its R&D investment target of 3%”, showing that “the EU is prioritising growth and jobs”.
It added that through Horizon 2020, among other programmes, the knowledge base in Europe is being strengthened. The report said: “Public private and public-public partnerships are one of the key elements of Horizon 2020. The private sector has committed to invest nearly €10bn in Joint Technology Initiatives stimulating innovation in areas such as aeronautics, medicines, electronic components and systems, transport and bio-based industries, while contributing to reverse the declining role of industry in Europe. In addition, eight contractual public private partnerships have been launched in areas such as green cars, energy efficient buildings and cleaner manufacturing processes, photonics and next generation internet. These partnerships are expected to leverage more than €6bn of investments with substantial impact on the competitiveness of the EU industry and essential to address societal challenges.”
The report also focused on getting more innovations to the market. It explained that “the Risk-Sharing Finance Facility, jointly set up by the Commission with the European Investment Bank, has ensured that for every billion euro of EU budget money, the EIB has mobilised €12bn in loans and over €30bn in final R&I investment. This has led to additional resources of up to €40bn since 2007 for research and innovation activities which would otherwise be left unfunded. Moreover, a specific SME instrument scheme was created to support SMEs in realising their best ideas.”
