Maria da Graça Carvalho MEP, rapporteur for the Specific Programme Implementing Horizon 2020, has attended the XVIII EUREKA Inter-parliamentary Conference Supporting Innovation - An Opportunity for Global Economic Recovery, held in the European Parliament, Brussels on 16 May 2013.
The conference, organised under the auspices of the Turkish EUREKA Chairmanship, was addressed by Maria da Graça Carvalho (see her keynote address here); Cemil Cicek, President of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey; Alejo Vidal-Quadras, Vice President of the European Parliament; Robert-Jan Smits, Director General DG Research and Innovation, European Commission; Nihat Ergün, Minister for Science, Industry and Technology of the Republic of Turkey; and Jeanette Iren Moen, State Secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Norway. Norway will be taking over the chairmanship of EUREKA as from this year.
EUREKA is an intergovernmental network launched in 1985 to support market oriented R&D and innovation projects by industry, research centres and universities across all technological sectors. It is composed of 41 members, including the European Commission. With its flexible and decentralised network, EUREKA offers project partners rapid access to skills and expertise across Europe. It actively fosters cooperation with other components of the European Research Area, exploring how possible complementarities could be best exploited.
Participants emphasised the importance of investing in R&D, the more so now, when countries are facing a financial crisis. Participants believed that austerity measures undertaken by a number of governments are undermining research and development while history has shown that those countries that had invested in research and development during hard economic times, had reaped the benefits of that investment in the mid and long term. In these troubled times, it is even more important to look far ahead and EUREKA is an instrument that can assist in this direction. Creation of added value is of paramount importance and this can only be achieved through innovation and R&D. Innovation boosts competitiveness which in turn creates jobs and growth.
Participants referred to the fragmentation and complexity of regulations in the EU member states which hinder the access and invest in the sector. Emphasis was made on the need to simplify and harmonise the rules, to exchange knowledge and to increase cooperation across borders. "We have to create an environment that is not bureaucratic and is not a barrier for innovation in Europe." It is important to exploit the advantages of the EU which is the largest internal market in the world.
Innovation has to respond to the needs of the market which are ever changing and it is here that Governments have to show a level of flexibility to encourage and facilitate investment in the sector. Innovation is widely acclaimed as a key solution to societal challenges such as climate change, scarcity of resources and health and ageing.
During the discussion a number of participants referred to the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020, which is the financial instrument that will implement the initiative aimed at securing Europe's global competitiveness which will help to create new growth and jobs in Europe.