The EU wants to prioritize funding of research and development in the national budgets of EU member states to enable Europe to capitalize on the knowledge and innovativeness to further spur economic growth. The aim is to double the budget of the successor to Horizon 2020, the current EU research and innovation program. The initiative also aims to involve citizens in addressing global challenges via mobilization of innovation missions.
An independent high level group of leading experts chaired by Pascal Lamy, President Emeritus of the Jacques Delors Institute, prepared a new vision for EU research and innovation, outlining 11 recommendations aimed at maximizing the impact of future EU research and innovation programs. The actions include building an EU-wide innovation policy that creates future markets by fostering ecosystems for researchers, innovators, industries and governments, educating for the future and investing in people who will make the change, designing a common EU R&D program for greater impact or adopting a mission-oriented, impact focused approach to address global challenges.
Inspired by the report entitled ‘LAB – FAB – APP: Investing in the European Future We Want’, more than 700 scientists, innovators, business people and policy makers discussed the future of research and innovation in Europe yesterday (3 July) at the conference ‘Research & Innovation – Shaping Our Future’, hosted by Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation.
On this occasion, Commissioner Moedas said that “research and Innovation make a big difference to enhancing productivity, boosting competitiveness and tangibly improving our quality of life. Europe is a global scientific powerhouse, but we need to better reap the benefits of this knowledge by turning it into value for economy and society through innovation. I warmly welcome the work by the independent group chaired by Pascal Lamy. Its recommendations are a solid base for our reflection on the funding program that will succeed Horizon 2020.”
The report emphasizes that in the last two decades, two thirds of economic growth in industrialized countries has been attributed to research and innovation. Its overarching recommendation therefore focuses on maximizing the impact of EU investments in research and innovation in order to boost prosperity and tackle our biggest societal challenges.
