Council Conclusions of 13 May 2003 on "strengthening European innovation policy"
Date: 2003-05-13
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU policy, enlargement of the Union, innovation

C 149/4

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Official Journal of the European Union

26.6.2003

COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS

of 13 May 2003

on ‘strengthening European innovation policy’

(2003/C 149/02)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

3. RECOGNISES THAT:

1. RECALLING:

— the conclusions of the Lisbon European Council on the
strategy for making the EU the world's most competitive
and dynamic knowledge-based economy, capable of
sustainable economic growth with more and better
jobs and greater social cohesion by 2010 and the
further elaboration of this strategy by the Stockholm,
Gothenburg and Barcelona European Councils;

— the Council conclusions of 5 December 2000 on inno-

vation as a factor for competitiveness;

— the conclusions of

the Barcelona European Council
which called for a significant boost of the overall R&D
and innovation effort in the Union;

— innovative activity driven,

inter alia, by a high level of
competition between enterprises is a key factor in stimu-
lating productivity growth and competitiveness;

— innovative activities and technological breakthroughs are

key factors to achieve sustainable development;

— the

full

scope and importance of

innovation
phenomenon requires developing a better understanding
of the drivers of innovation in the European context;

the

— enlargement has the potential to change significantly the
thus creating new

innovation performance

Union's
opportunities and challenges;

— the conclusions of the Copenhagen European Council

concerning enlargement;

— the EU needs to improve the environment for innovation
in order to close the gap with its major trading partners;

— the Council conclusions of 3 March 2003 on the

promotion of entrepreneurship and small firms;

— enterprises are at the heart of the innovation process,
and innovation policy must have positive effects on their
behaviour, capabilities and operating environment;

— the contribution of the Competitiveness Council to the
Spring European Council 2003 adopted on 3 March
2003;

— innovation policy should form part of a coherent
framework of policies for developing the competitiveness
of European enterprises;

— the conclusions of the Brussels European Council of 20
and 21 March 2003, giving priority to innovation and
entrepreneurship and stressing the need for Europe to do
more to turn ideas into real value-added.

— innovation policy should, where appropriate, be comple-
inter alia in relation

mented by a sectoral dimension,
with specific technologies;

2. WELCOMES:

— the Commission's Communication on ‘Innovation policy:
updating the Union's approach in the context of the
Lisbon strategy’ which stresses the multi-dimensional
nature of the innovation phenomenon;

— the Commission's intention to increase its efforts to
foster a European Innovation Policy that contributes to
strengthening European competitiveness and progress
towards a knowledge-based economy.

— access to finance is a prerequisite for creating favourable
conditions for innovative enterprises,
in particular for
small firms; the Innovation Initiatives of the European
Investment Bank could play an important role towards
this aim;

— the sixth RTD framework programme and the devel-
opment of the European research area (ERA), including
improved synergies with European initiatives and coor-
dinated joint efforts such as Eureka, must play an
important role in encouraging and stimulating inno-
vation;

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— frontier and leading edge technologies and technologies
of a strategic nature, such as space technology, advanced
information and communication technology, biotech-
nology and defence and security related R&D could
play an important role in stimulating innovation and
competitiveness;

— the exchange of good practice and experience within the
Union, as well as the reduction of obstacles to inno-
vation, could contribute to increasing the innovation
performance of the Union as a whole in order to meet
the Lisbon objectives;

— the Common political approach adopted by the Council
to the
on 3 March 2003 gives
Community patent, which is of crucial
importance for
the protection of intellectual property and to stimulate
innovation.

strong impetus

4. EMPHASISES THAT:

— innovation goes beyond technological

innovation and
can take many other forms, such as through the devel-
opment of new business concepts, new means of
distribution, marketing or design and through organisa-
tional or presentational change;

economy

— the speed and efficiency of the spreading of innovation
through the
to productivity,
is
economic growth and job creation; advanced electronic
communications are a powerful engine within the
the
Information
momentum of this process;

Society which

contributes

critical

to

— enterprises must be considered as central to innovation
in Europe and small firms should benefit from improved
business support services facilitating access to technical,
financial and legal information and advice;

— the emergence of new firms such as new technology
based firms
those
(NTBFs) and spin-offs,
arising from universities and private knowledge-based
is a strong force for innovation in many
companies,
is these firms which often have
sectors and that
strong potential for growth;

such as

it

— R & D and

are

transfer

technology

for
long-term economic growth, while recognising that
they must be accompanied by measures to facilitate
the successful exploitation of results, such as proto-
typing,
reengi-
testing and adaptation, engineering,
neering and demonstration;

essential

— business investment
Union should be
Barcelona objective of approaching 3 % of GDP;

in R & D and innovation in the
the
increased, moving

towards

— measures

the

creation

supporting

framework
conditions such as highly competitive markets, well-
functioning capital markets, including seed and venture
capital, sophisticated consumer demand and a supportive
regulatory environment are conducive to innovation;

of

— joint public and private partnerships in particular in
R & D,
infra-
including through the use of support
structures, such as science parks and business incubators,
contribute to the effectiveness of public investments in
innovation;

— flexible, mobile and skilled human resources are required
for innovation and that the quality of education and
training,
be
vocational
improved in order to move towards a knowledge-based
economy.

training, must

including

5. CONFIRMS that European innovation policy development

requires in particular:

— interaction with other policy areas for improving the

environment for innovative enterprises;

— stimulation of greater market dynamism, including the
acceptance of new products by customers and the
emerging concept of ‘lead markets’;

— public sector involvement resulting from its role as a
(e.g.

and services

major user of new products
e-government);

— strengthening the regional dimension of

innovation
policy, notably by the development of clusters of
excellence.

6. INVITES THE MEMBER STATES AND ACCEDING COUNTRIES TO:

— build and strengthen innovation strategies, ensuring a
well-coordinated approach among national and regional
authorities;

— define policy objectives

innovation,
reflecting the specificity of their respective innovation
systems, and views of the most appropriate route to
achieving improved innovation performance;

in the field of

— create favourable framework conditions that foster inno-
vation and take into account the specificities of small
firms;

— well-functioning co-operation between the science sector
and industry is one of the major factors facilitating inno-
vation in enterprises;

— improve indicators within the context of an upgraded
European innovation scoreboard and to set their own
quantitative and/or qualitative targets on a voluntary
basis;

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— encourage national statistical offices in improving the
collection of comparable, up-to-date statistical data of
quality in the area of
innovation, while taking into
account the need not to increase the burden on enter-
prises when collecting data;

— promote
providers
implementers of
and through their
products and services;

innovation through public
of

as
as
support
regulatory and administrative rules,
consumer of

authorities
services,

role as a major

advisory

and

— encourage regional and local authorities in the devel-
opment of
innovation strategies building on specific
regional or local strengths and cross-border partnerships
involving all relevant actors;

— continue their efforts to improve innovative firms' access
to competitively rated finance, and consider the potential
for encouraging innovation where appropriate through
various forms of policy incentives;

— redirect State aid, as necessary, towards stimulating inno-
vation, bearing in mind the need for a global reduction
of State aid.

7. INVITES THE COMMISSION TO:

— ensure a well coordinated approach for a European inno-
in particular by improving framework

vation strategy,
conditions for innovation;

— upgrade the European innovation scoreboard to take
account of the multidimensional nature of innovation
and increase the coherence of the various policy bench-
for example, European innovation
marking exercises,
scoreboard, enterprise scoreboard,
science and tech-
nology key figures;

— take into account the impact of its initiatives on the
in particular

innovation performance of enterprises,
small firms;

— strengthen existing procedures and processes enabling
Member States and acceding countries to learn from
each other's
and
implementation of innovation policy;

in the development

experience

— support the creation of an environment conducive to
innovation
particular, when
reviewing the Community framework on state aid, the

considering,

by

in

best means of taking into account market failures in
generating innovation and its dissemination;

— continue its support for the efforts of Member States'
regional authorities in devising innovation policies;

— support acceding countries in rapidly developing their
framework for innovation, and extend the European
innovation scoreboard to give the same coverage to
acceding countries as to the current Member States;

— report regularly on progress in strengthening innovation

policy at national and EU level.

8. INVITES THE MEMBER STATES, ACCEDING COUNTRIES AND

THE COMMISSION TO:

— cooperate

in further developing the

and
innovation process, policies and

analysis

discussion of
performances;

the

— ensure appropriate coordination of innovation policy, on
a voluntary basis, at EU, national and regional levels;

— strengthen existing processes, in the framework of the
Trend Chart on Innovation in Europe, enabling Member
States to learn from each other's experience in inno-
vation policy development and implementation;

— contribute to promoting innovation in the public sector
by promoting training and awareness activities on
policies and factors shaping the innovation performance
of firms;

— exchange

good practices

launching
independent
individual national programs, schemes

initiatives offering, on a voluntary basis,
evaluations of
and support agencies for promotion of innovation;

consider

and

— intensify their cooperation and create a framework of
common objectives for strengthening innovation in the
EU, including an assessment mechanism for taking stock
of the progress achieved, while respecting the charac-
teristics of national
and the
diversity of national approaches;

innovation systems

— actively engage in the definition of

further action
required in order to support
the Council's work in
rapidly progressing towards more favourable conditions
in which business can innovate, with a view to
contributing effectively to reaching the Lisbon objectives.