Current activities principally refer to the development of innovative materials that can replace or repair human tissue function and the medical models for their design and application. As the recent food scares in Europe have shown, EU consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about the safety aspects of their daily diets. Such health scares can have a major impact on demand, profitability and employment. Consequently, the European Commission is stepping up its research and legislative activities in this sector and, in response to public concern, has instigated a comprehensive and integrated approach to achieving maximum health protection for the consumers of Europe's food, with the adoption of a radical reform plan in its White Paper on Food Safety. To ensure sustainable economic and employment growth, a lucid, highly-targeted innovation policy is crucial.
Growth comes from innovative firms, particularly SMEs.
As we enter the third millennium and Europe's industrial and service sectors face increasingly fierce competition from their traditionally more innovative international rivals, it is vital that policy-makers foster an environment where innovation is encouraged and nurtured. The need to take research out of the laboratory and into the marketplace has never been more pressing, and EU policies and initiatives reflect this accordingly. If the EU is to advance in an increasingly competitive global economy, it must establish a genuine Single Market for patents which, in turn, is able to create an environment favourable to innovation and investment. Having acknowledged the importance of the link between innovation, growth and employment, the European Commission has recently adopted policies outlining an ambitious series of measures to tackle this problem and to address the wider issues of IPR management. Past practices of treating fresh water supplies as seemingly limitless are no longer sustainable.