Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698927115462.pdf (United Kingdom)
B I S I Department for Business Innovation & Skills Baroness Wilcox Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills :f tJ � July 2012 Adrian Bailey MP Chair, BIS Committee House of Commons Houses of Parliament SW1A2TT rB � J/.J,.

; IYf'J) EU Informal Competitiveness Council: 19-20 July 2012 Post Council Written Ministerial Statement I attended an Informal Competitiveness Council organised by the Cyprus Presidency in Nicosia on 19 July.
The Informal Council focused on practical measures that Member States and the European Union as a whole could take to promote entrepreneurship.

The Commission was currently on an consulting Enterprise Action Plan, and the informal Competitiveness Council discussion would lead to Council Conclusions at the December Competitiveness Council, as part of that consultation process.
The council was organised into a plenary session, with opening presentations and a roundtable discussion, followed by four breakout discussion groups running in parallel, and a closing plenary session.

The discussion in the opening plenary session focused, in particular, on the need to encourage innovative start-ups (including through education) and measures to help micro­ businesses to grow.
During this discussion I intervened to highlight the importance of engaging young people in entrepreneurship through such initiatives as the 'Tycoon Tenner', which gives schoolchildren the opportunity to build a business from an initial £10 investment, and a recent competition run by the Intellectual Property Office to encourage children to come up with new inventions.
I also outlined the steps that the UK had taken to make it easier to start a new business, including streamlined Companies House procedures that enabled people to set a business up over the internet within half an hour, and work to reduce the regulatory and administrative burden on the smallest businesses.
Enquiries +44 (0)20 7215 5000 I Minicom +44 (0)20 7215 6740 I Contact us www.bis.gov.uk/contact-us 1 Victoria Street, London SW1 H OET www .bis.gov.uk I attended the discussion session on 'innovation as a driving force for entrepreneurship ', chaired by the Irish Minister.
I intervened to stress the importance of having a broad, non-specific approach to supporting innovation, rather than 'picking winners' and outlined the UK approach in establishing 'catapult centres', bringing together a range of support services for innovative businesses.

can I also pointed out the important role that public procurement play in innovation.
The rest of the discussion also drew out the differing capacity of Member States to bring technology to market; the role of innovation and start-up loans in leveraging private sector investment; the importance of political leadership in innovation and of competition to bring the best enterprises to the fore.
I also urged the Commission to ensure that sharing of best practice focused on those Member States most in need and avoided repetition of policies in Member States considered to be exemplars of best practice.
The closing plenary session brought the summaries of the different discussion groups together; the other groups considered the role of education in fostering entrepreneurship, bringing untapped pools of potential (such as women or migrant communities) into enterprise, and how to give honest failed entrepreneurs a second chance.
All the sessions reflected a need for EU action to augment national action by Member States, rather than duplicate it, with greatest value coming from sharing of best practice between Member States.

There was also a closing address by Commission Vice-President Tajani.

Jane Peters, (Deputy Director, Knowledge and Innovation Unit, International UK on the Research day 20th BIS), represented the July.
Discussion focussed on Euro-Mediterranean cooperation in Horizon 2020 (the Commission's and the simplification of procedures for proposed successor to the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation).

participants current ih The Cypriot Presidency, supported by other Member States with a strong interest in Mediterranean issues and Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn pressed for a strengthened partnership between the EU and the wider region in the research field.
In particular establishment of an "Article there was considerable 185" cooperation support for the partnership to establish and promote a common scientific agenda, though some Member States were more cautious over how easy it would be to agree a shared set of research priorities.
On Horizon 2020 simplification (simplification core of the discussions on the Rules for Participation under Horizon 2020), of the funding models is at the expressed broad support for the Commission's attempts to simplify Delegations procedures for Horizon 2020 participants reimbursement.
by introducing flat rates for The UK, along with Germany, Spain, Austria, Finland and Luxembourg noted that while the flat rates would be beneficial for SMEs and new participants, they risked unfairly penalising some top research organisations that incurred higher costs due to the nature of their work.

Measures needed to be introduced to even out the impact in these cases.
Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn stressed that in response to the broad agreement among policy makers and stakeholders on the main simplification objectives, the Commission proposal on the Rules for Participation promises to deliver on these objectives with the help of 'one project, one funding rate' and 'a single flat rate for indirect costs' in combination with a revised financial control strategy.
I am writing in similar terms to William Cash, Chair, European Committee, House of Commons, and am copying to the Clerks of both Scrutiny Committees, Les Saunders (Cabinet Office) and Stephen Edwards (BIS Scrutiny Co-ordinator).

Chuka Ummuna.

I am also writing to the Shadow Business Secretary A copy of this letter will be laid in the library of the House.

BARONESS WILCOX