EU Innovation Scoreboard Shows Need for Action to Keep Innovation and Industry in Europe

The 2014 EU Innovation Scoreboard published by the European Commission stressed that Europe risks becoming the world's research hub while innovative products and processes and the jobs and growth that go with their development, will be found in other areas. It was reported that there is an improvement in closing the innovation divide with the rest of the world, however, Europe is still behind the innovations of countries like Japan, South Korea, and the U.S.

The critical state of innovative industries such as the biotechnology industry in Europe today and the need for concrete action, go beyond the improvement of research and development funding which has taken place in Europe. Thus, André Goig, EuropaBio Chairman commented: "The Commission has made great strides in terms of reformulating its Research Framework programmes to include e.g. Public Private Partnerships and instruments targeted specifically at SMEs, which go beyond standard research funding and move toward funding innovation. However, unless Europe can guarantee such improvements are coupled with science-based, predictable and workable regulatory systems for small and large companies, as well as tailored market pull measures for innovative products and faster and more equitable access to products for end users, similar to those available in other parts of the world, we are setting ourselves up to keep losing, not only on the scoreboard but most importantly in terms of jobs, growth and benefits for society."

Read the report at http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/innovation/policy/innovation-scoreboard/index_en.htm. Read EuropaBio's press release at http://www.europabio.org/press/2014-eu-innovation-scoreboard-underlines-need-action-keep-innovation-and-industry-europe.