Euroabstracts : a review of European innovation and enterprise. Vol 44, 6/2006, December 2006.
Date: 2007-01-09
Institutions: Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry
Subjects: serial publication, type of business

euroabstracts

 A review of European innovation and enterprise

December 2006  Vol 44 – 6/2006

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2007 
2007 

a big year for 
a big year for 
European innovation
European innovation

A broad-based innovation strategy for the EU

Clustering for growth

Improving LIFE in the city

 European Commission
Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry

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CONTENTS

 EDITORIAL

Looking forward 

to seven years 

of innovation

A new phase in European innovation policy will be inaugurated 
next  year:  EU  ﬁ nancial  instruments  covering  the  period  from 
2007  to  2013  have  been  recalibrated  to  promote  innovation-
friendly  policies,  societies  and  markets.  This  renewed  drive  to 
bolster  the  Union’s  innovative  performance  will  complement 
the  2005  Lisbon  Partnership  for  Growth  and  Jobs  which  aims 
to achieve more and better jobs in a more dynamic, innovative 
and attractive Europe.

This edition’s special feature explores where this new focus on 
innovation in all the EU’s ﬁ nancial instruments will lead Europe 
over the next seven years and beyond. David White, director 
of innovation policy at the European Commission’s  Enterprise 
and  Industry  Directorate-General,  speaks  to  Euroabstracts 
about the future. The magazine also reviews the Commission’s 
proposed  recipe  for  a  fruitful  innovation  policy  outlined  in  a 
broad-based strategy.

One  of  the  publications  featured  in  this  issue  delves  into 
 innovation  clusters  in  the  EU’s  new  Member  States  and  how 
their  effectiveness  can  be  boosted.  Another  Commission  title 
measures  the  success  of  the  Commission’s  Entrepreneurship 
 Action Plan two years after it was launched.

As  regards  European  competitiveness,  the  World  Economic 
Forum  has  uncovered  plenty  of  bloom  in  a  new  report  which 
shows that Europe dominates the top ten of the globe’s most 
competitive  economies.  An  OECD  report  looks  into  how 
 government funding of R&D affects company behaviour in the 
research ﬁ eld. 

And  no  knowledge-based  society  would  be  complete  without 
a state-of-the-art telecommunications network. A wide-ranging 
Commission  survey  reveals  a  few  surprises  about  Europe’s 
e-communications proﬁ le. Making the most of what Europe does 
best,  the  magazine  muses  on  the  power  of  collective   science 
thinking as embodied in the 35-year-old COST initiative.

2007-2013: seven years 

of innovation – page 8

INNOVATION TRENDS

Recipe for a fruitful innovation policy 
A continent of wheelers and dealers 
Clustering for growth 

FEATURE

Stimulating innovation, not stiﬂ ing it 
2007-2013: seven years of innovation 

KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY

The value added of public research funding 
Boosting the power of lifelong learning 
Is it time to rethink the 3% target? 

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COMPETITIVENESS

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Finding a remedy for the big merger blues 
European economies top global competitiveness index  16

ENVIRONMENT

Europe’s place in the global ecosystem 
Watering down the impact of business 
Innovative solutions for urban environments 

TECHNOLOGY

The power of collective thinking 
Proﬁ le of a well-connected continent 
Playing the sustainable energy game 

IN BRIEF
  Short reviews 

BOOKMARKS
  Innovation on-line and on track 

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 euroabstracts
 Euroabstracts is published six times a year in English by the European Commission’s Enterprise and Industry DG, 
as a part of the European Community’s Sixth Research Framework Programme.

Published by:
Communication and Information Unit
Enterprise and Industry DG, 
European Commission
BREY 05/216
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Fax: +32 2 292 1788 
entr-euroabstracts@ec.europa.eu

Written and produced by: 
ESN, Brussels

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Legal notice:
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may be held responsible for the use to which  information contained 
in this publication may be put, nor for any errors which may appear 
despite careful preparation and checking. This publication does not 
necessarily reﬂ ect the view or the position of the Commission.

Luxembourg:  Ofﬁ ce  for  Ofﬁ cial  Publications  of  the  European 
 Communities, 2006
© European Communities, 2006
Reproduction is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged

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EU POLICY

INNOVATION TRENDS

Recipe for a fruitful 

innovation policy

The tenth element

This comprehensive, holistic strategy identiﬁ es and reiterates key 
areas requiring attention and tables a ten-point programme of 
the most crucial elements in order to mark out clearly a  possible 
way forward.

These  critical  ingredients  include  making  European  education 
systems  and  markets  more  innovation-friendly,  establishing  a 
single  European  R&D  labour  market,  strengthening  links  be-
tween  the  research  community  and  industry,  harnessing  the 
whole  range  of  EU  ﬁ nancial  instruments  to  boost  the  Union’s 
innovation capacity, and tapping the full potential of informa-
tion and communication technologies.

The market is a crucial focus of this strategy because, without it, 
there would be less incentive to innovate. This means that the 
European Single Market needs to become more integrated, and 
that the EU should develop further reciprocal agreements with 
third countries. This raises the important issue of cost-effective 
protection of intellectual property in the European context.

Innovations often need a proving ground, and that is where the 
new focus on ‘lead markets’ in this Communication comes in. 
Past  examples  include  the  GSM  system  for  mobile  telephony, 
which began in Europe and is now the number one inter national 
standard with well over a billion subscribers worldwide.

The  European  Commission’s  recent  Communication  on 
innovation set out the ingredients for a European innovation 
policy with punch and brought the recipe to the table for EU 
leaders to chew over.

The Commission Communication – which was adopted in mid-
September  –  formed  the  basis  for  discussions  at  an  informal 
summit of EU leaders hosted by the Finnish presidency in Lahti 
on 20 October 2006(1).

“Europe faces something of an innovation paradox,” observed 
Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen. “We are not innovation 
poor; we invest substantially in education, and R&D spending is 
increasing, yet that investment does not feed through into suc-
cessful companies, new products and good jobs.”

Well-structured  and  practical  standards  are  also  crucial.  “We 
must  ﬁ nd  a  faster  way  of  agreeing  together  with  business  on 
European standards, to avoid being beaten to it by others. The 
GSM standard is one of Europe’s success stories, but others are 
thin on the ground,” Vanhanen warned. 

This  means  that  renewed  effort  is  needed  to  ensure  that  the 
right quantity (as well as quality) of each ingredient is used to 
bolster  Europe’s  innovation  performance.  “We  can  do  much 
more to foster innovation as a driver for growth of the European 
economy. The latest ﬁ gures show once again the value  added 
that  a  coherent  Community-wide  approach  to  innovation 
would bring,” said European Commission President José Manuel 
 Barroso at the launch of the strategic policy document.

The  Commission  has  not  requested  any  new  commitments 
from  Member  States  beyond  those  already  agreed.  What  is 
required  is  the  full  implementation  of  the  necessary  reforms 
needed to transform Europe into an innovation-friendly society 
and economy.

“Structural change must not be seen as a threat, but as an op-
portunity to become more competitive,” noted Günter Verheu-
gen,  Vice-President  of  the  European  Commission  in  charge  of 
Enterprise and Industry. “Europe needs to become a truly know-
ledge-based and innovation-friendly society.”

“A mobile TV standard could be next, but only if we act prompt-
ly,” he suggested. In fact, the Communication identiﬁ es the en-
tire service sector as being ripe for innovation.

The  Commission  is  preparing  a  number  of  complementary 
documents, including an analysis on how to promote the trans-
national  dimention  of  clusters  in  Europe  and  a  handbook  on 
using public procurement as an innovation driver.

(1) http://www.eu2006.ﬁ /calendar/vko42/en_GB/1129707161527/

Putting knowledge into practice: 
a broad-based innovation strategy for the EU
COM(2006) 502 ﬁ nal 
European Commission, Brussels, 2006
English, French, German,19 pp, free of charge
Download: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com/
2006/com2006_0502en01.pdf

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INNOVATION TRENDS

ENTREPRENEURSHIP ACTION PLAN

A continent 

of wheelers and dealers

Two  years  after  it  was  launched,  the  Euro-
pean Commission’s Entrepreneurship Action 
Plan  has  successfully  supported  many  ini-
tiatives to help Europe become a more risk-
 taking and entrepreneurial society.

Two-thirds  of  all  the  jobs  in  Europe’s  private 
sector  are  with  some  23  million  small  and 
medium-sized companies (SMEs). Small com-
panies  provide  much  of  the  dynamism  and 
innovation  that  the  economy  needs,  yet  EU 
citizens tend to be reluctant to start their own 
business.  The  Entrepreneurship  Action  Plan 
(EAP) was launched in 2004 to help promote 
a  more  entrepreneurial  and  risk-taking  culture.  By  September 
2006, it had completed 90% of its work.

The EAP concentrated on activities in ﬁ ve strategic areas. Fuelling 
entrepreneurial mindsets tackled the unwillingness of Europeans 
to  think  entrepreneurially.  Entrepreneurial  mindsets  start  young 
and several projects were aimed at introducing the idea of starting 
a company as an attractive career option at schools, colleges and 
universities. For example, some 15% of secondary schools in the 
EU now operate some kind of ‘mini company’ programme (see the 
feature in the December 2005 edition of Euroabstracts(1)). One-ﬁ fth 
of students in such schemes go on to start their own businesses. 

A  second  priority,  encouraging  more  people  to  become 
entrepreneurs,  tackled  many  of  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of 
people  going  into  business.  One  such  is  insolvency,  which  af-
fected 140 000 companies and 1.5 million jobs in the EU-15 in 
2005. The fear of failure and bankruptcy is still a strong deter-
rent against taking entrepreneurial risks. A conference looked at 
ways of avoiding bankruptcy, reducing the stigma of failure and 
encouraging failed entrepreneurs to make a fresh start. 

But a business does not have to fail to be lost. Many thousands of 
otherwise successful businesses, usually family run, disappear  every 
year  because  the  procedures  for  transferring  the  business  when 
the owner retires or moves on are too cumbersome. One solution 
 being explored is electronic market places for trading businesses.

Of course, an entrepreneur is not merely interested in  starting and 
 running  a  business,  –  he  or  she  wants  it  to  grow  and   provide  a 
 return on their investment. Gearing entrepreneurs for growth and 

 competitiveness looked at the special  problems faced by women and 
people from ethnic minorities. A  conference  discussed the obstacles 
facing female entrepreneurs, in particular, in gaining access to ﬁ nance. 
A web portal for female entrepreneurs was launched in 2005(2).

Several  initiatives  to  promote  co-operation  between  SMEs  in 
the  single  market  are  also  under  way  including  the  Pan-Euro-
pean Business Co-operation Schemes involving EU-backed Euro 
Info  Centres.  Trade  fairs  are  being  used  to  host  trans-national 
matchmaking events. There has also been support for promot-
ing clustering – the geographical concentration of businesses in 
complementary markets – as a stimulus to innovation.

Improving the ﬂ ow of ﬁ nance is never far from an entrepreneur’s 
mind. The Commission has produced a guide for SMEs on how to 
work with banks(3) and organised a conference on preparing SMEs 
for the Basel II accord on regulation of the banking sector, due to 
come into force in 2007. Future initiatives will cover risk capital, chan-
nelling bank lending for innovation, and improving governance.

SME Envoy

Creating  a  more  SME-friendly  regulatory  and  administrative 
framework is the ﬁ fth strategic area. The Commission is working to 
remove tax obstacles encountered by SMEs when they operate in 
other Member States and organised a conference on how to consult 
stakeholders when framing national or regional SME policies. 

To highlight the increased importance of SME policy, Françoise Le 
Bail, Deputy Director-General of the Enterprise and Industry DG, 
has been appointed as SME Envoy to provide a point of contact 
for small businesses and to act as an advocate for them.

(1) http://cordis.europa.eu/aoi/article.cfm?article=1523&lang=EN

(2)  http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/entrepreneurship/craft/craft-women/

womenentr_portal.htm

(3)  http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/entrepreneurship/ﬁ nancing/

docs/basel_2_guide/basel_guide%20_en.pdf

Report on the implementation of the Entrepreneurship Action Plan
Commission staff working paper
SEC(2006) 1132
European Commission, Brussels, 2006
English, 28 pp, free of charge
Download: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/
entrepreneurship/action_plan/

The implications of globalisation at home

In  order  to  generate  knowledge  and  technological  change,  globalisation  needs  to  be 
supported by more open, market-based economic governance. This shift to more ﬂ exible 
policies and regulatory frameworks can easily be observed in most EU Member States. 
This raises a series of questions which this study attempts to answer through simulation 
patterns and economic modelling. In particular, it determines the factors differentiating 
the current globalisation phase from previous ones, as well as its short- and medium-term 
costs for speciﬁ c sectors and groups. 

Globalisation: trends, issues and macro 
implications for the EU
ISBN 92-79-01195-2
European Commission, Brussels, 2006 
English, 97 pp, free of charge
Download: http://ec.europa.eu/
economy_ﬁ nance/publications/
economic_papers/2006/ecp254en.pdf

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REGIONAL CLUSTERS

INNOVATION TRENDS

Clustering for growth

Regional  clusters  enable  com-
panies  to  improve  productivity 
and innovation. In the new Mem-
ber States (EU-10), regional clus-
ters  are  an  important  aspect  of 
their  dynamic  economic  transi-
tion. But both the EU-10 and the 
EU-15 fall behind the US on clus-
ter  strength,  potentially  an  im-
portant factor in Europe’s failure 
to  keep  pace  with  US  economic 
growth.

Levels  of  skills, 

infrastructure 
and institutional capacity in Europe match or exceed those in 
 other parts of the world. Yet the EU is falling behind  economic 
growth rates in the United States and parts of Asia. One pos-
sible  factor  is  the  weakness  and  fragmentation  of  Europe’s 
 regional economic clusters(1).

The new Member States have almost caught up with the older 
ones in terms of regional specialisation. This EU-10 now regis-
ters  some  367  regional  clusters,  employing  nearly  6  million 
people.  Budapest  and  Warsaw  are  the  largest  regions  with 
the strongest cluster presence. A sizeable number of clusters 
are  found  in  regions  of  Poland,  the  Czech  Republic,  Lithu-
ania, Slovenia and Latvia. Hungary and Malta have narrower 
cluster positions, while Cyprus and Estonia show the weakest 
cluster portfolios.

Across the EU-10, the largest cluster categories by employment 
size  are  processed  food;  construction  services;  transportation 
and  logistics;  ﬁ nancial  services;  hospitality  and  tourism;  metal 
manufacturing; and building services. 

The cluster sector in the EU-10 gained a million jobs between 
2000 and 2004. The largest growth was in hospitality and tour-
ism; transportation and logistics; processed food; construction 
services; automotive; and business services. Meanwhile, 11 clus-
ter  sectors  showed  employment  losses,  half  occurring  in  foot-
wear and production technology.

A complementary study is currently dealing with cluster map-
ping in EU-15 countries plus Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Iceland, 
Israel, Norway and Switzerland. It aims to make publicly avail-
able a pan-European cluster database by the end of 2007.

Patterns of specialisation

The EU-10 countries remain much more natural resource-driven 
than other economies. Their clusters have a bias towards labour-
intensive and manufacturing sectors, while being relatively weak 
in advanced services and knowledge-intensive categories.

In addition, there are large differences between EU-10 regions. 
There have been rapid economic changes since the collapse of 
the  Soviet  Bloc  which  present  both  opportunities  and  threats 
for regional clusters. Established size and position clearly do not 
 predetermine  success  or  failure.  But  the  strengths  of  regional 
 clusters do have a strong impact on economic performance. 

The  EU-10  countries  have  less  specialisation  and  lower  geo-
graphic concentrations in their regional clusters than US regions. 
Data  and  conceptual  assumptions  suggest  that  high  levels  of 
concentration  lead  to  high  productivity  and  innovation.  The 
lack of such specialisation is a serious concern to all. Preliminary 
data suggests that the EU-15 countries also suffer from a lack of 
strong regional clusters.

Growing together

Policies  should  be  developed  to  help  strengthen  and  expand 
clusters. The EU can improve the conditions for regional clusters 
through further dismantling trade, investment, knowledge and 
labour mobility barriers across Europe. The EU-10 are well pos-
itioned to beneﬁ t from this because of their large-scale  economic 
and political transformations.

The  economic  beneﬁ ts  of  existing  clusters  can  be  boosted  by 
 effective action through cluster initiatives and the  coordinated 
actions  of  companies,  regional  government  agencies  and 
 research and education institutions. 

There are many policies that inﬂ uence the quality of the regional 
business environment, and by implication clusters. Innovation, 
regional, SME and investment attraction policies can all be used 
by  government  agencies  to  strengthen  and  develop  clusters. 
Many existing EU policies must be geared towards supporting 
the  evolution  of  clusters.  Transnational  co-operation  between 
clusters – as well as between public authorities and innovation 
agencies – is key to the creation of world-class clusters in Eur ope. 
In this respect, a European Cluster Alliance is under  development 
as part of the EU-backed PRO INNO initiative.

(1)  Clusters are geographic concentrations of related businesses – both 

upstream and downstream – whose geographical proximity is believed 
to add to their competitiveness.

Clusters in the EU-10 new member countries
Europe Innova, 2006
English, 76 pp, free of charge
Download: 
ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/innovation-policy/studies/docs/
studies/eucluster.pdf

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FEATURE

INTERVIEW: DAVID WHITE

Stimulating innovation, n

David  White,  director  of 
innovation  policy  at  the 
European  Commission’s 
Enterprise  and 
Industry 
 Directorate-General, speaks 
to Euroabstracts about the 
future  of  European  innov-
ation policy.

How  did  you  come  to  be  in-
volved in innovation policy?

I’ve  had  a  long  career  in  the 
Commission,  most  of  it  in-
volved  with  trying  to  create 
a good environment for busi-
ness  to  develop.  Between, 
2000 and 2004, I was director of enterprise policy. Towards the 
end of that period, I was asked to take charge of part of innov-
ation policy and later the opportunity arose to take the whole 
of innovation policy, which I gladly accepted because it was an 
interesting and new ﬁ eld for me. 

A lot is expected of innovation. Is it up to the task?

The importance of innovation is hard to overestimate. It’s what 
made our society rich and, for the last 200 years, Western soci-
ety has been innovative. Innovation is not done by government, 
but by businesses. We try to create the conditions that are most 
conducive to innovation. That’s important for competition, our 
future economy and for the realisation of our individual and so-
cial ambitions and for the place of Europe in the world.

Every  innovation  is  different  by  deﬁ nition,  which  means  that 
there is no easy policy solution. You have to create a situation in 
which people can test their different ideas and see if they work. 
And the idea that government can somehow drive innovation 
is simply wrong – it won’t drive it, but it can facilitate it and if it 
doesn’t facilitate it, it can certainly kill it.

What is the right policy for innovation?

Helping businesses innovate involves providing the best frame-
work conditions. Businesses can innovate better if they are com-
peting; if they’re on a level playing ﬁ eld. They must be able to 
see that they can gain an advantage by innovating. They need 
access to a market, like the Single Market and to third-country 
markets, where they can sell their goods and services. All of that 
is about creating scope for innovators and for innovation. In ad-
dition, there must be knowledge. Innovation is about bringing 
about a market opportunity and the knowledge of how to sat-
isfy it and then making a commercial success. Knowledge comes 
from education but also from insight and we have to ensure that 
we have the knowledge to innovate. 

But you need more than market access and an innovative idea. 
You need to have access to the necessary resources, especially if 
you are trying to create a small company from scratch. When we 
look at how innovation comes about, many radical ideas come 
from small companies, ‘crazy’ men and women who think out-
side the box and want to do something completely different. 

If  they  do  that  in  a  small  business  and  it  succeeds,  very  often 
they will be bought up by a large company which then applies 
enormous  resources  and  know-how  to  develop  the  idea.  The 
Wright brothers invented the aircraft but Airbus has taken the 
concept, applied a lot of incremental innovation to it and made 
it into the plane we happily use today. 

There is a role for the big and small ﬁ rm in the innovative pro-
cess and the small ﬁ rm often has a crucial role in making that 
ﬁ rst step. But taking that step further requires a lot more work 
and investment. It is very important, therefore, that the condi-
tions should be in place for these small companies to be able to 
test their ideas and see if they fail or go, not because they were 
lucky enough to ﬁ nd a ﬁ nancier to back them, or where they 
happen to have the skills, but that the market test is a fair test. 
Therefore, it’s in society’s interest to make sure that incubation 
facilities, good ﬁ nance, and the necessary skills are available. So 
there  is  a  lot  to  be  done  for  small  companies.  We  have  many 
support  measures  in  place  across  the  EU  –  the  Single  Market, 
external and competition policies – which are all supportive of 
innovation. But small businesses need more. That is why we’re 
trying to ensure that the facilities are as good as possible.

Is all innovation high-tech? 

No. A changing business model, people learning to sell goods 
and services in new ways: that is all innovation. Compare, for 
example,  Amazon.com  with  a  traditional  bookshop.  It’s  not  a 
radical high-tech step in terms of software, but it is an innova-
tive business model. Others have changed production systems, 
production control or marketing models, all of that is innovation 
and it all counts. We are supporting all innovations. 

Innovation can take place in any company. The window cleaner 
who started with a cloth and then used a squeegee is innovat-
ing and improving the quality of the service. There is nothing 
different between this example and a set-top box developed in 
a university and sold to a major telecommunications operator. 
The  issues  are  essentially  the  same.  It’s  about  advice,  environ-
ment and about ensuring the conditions are right for it. 

Where does innovation happen?

Business,  especially  in  the  case  of  SMEs,  takes  place  locally.  If 
you  support  SMEs,  you  do  it  on  the  ground,  not  in  ‘Europe’. 
This means that many of the facilities are provided not by the 
European or national authorities, but by the local authorities. 

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INTERVIEW: DAVID WHITE

FEATURE

, not stiﬂ ing it

We  don’t  want  to  replace  local  authorities,  but  there  is  an 
 awful  lot  they  can  learn  from  each  other  by  networking  and 
we  facilitate that. Of course, we do this already through Innova 
and PRO INNO Europe, which were launched under the Sixth 
Framework  Programme,  and  these  will  be  the  centrepieces  of 
our  regional  innovation  work  under  the  Competitiveness  and 
Innovation Framework Programme (CIP). 

What  about  access  to  alternative,  less  regulated  funding  for 
business innovation? 

What small businesses need is access to ﬁ nanciers who have the 
time and the interest to understand their businesses and to en-
sure they have the capital and management they need. Three of 
the classic providers are banks, venture capital companies and 
business angels. The supply of capital for small business across 
Europe, especially start-up capital, is problematic and the reason 
is not hard to see. When lending relatively small amounts, the 
cost  for  the  lender  is  disproportionately  high.  However,  there 
are instruments that can be used to boost the availability of ﬁ -
nance. For example, guarantee societies can merge risk on small 
loans and reduce the cost of lending; loans can be ‘securitised’ 
(grouped according to risk and sold off). Both of these strategies 
reduce the risk on small loans and reduce the burden of ﬁ nan-
cing  cost;  both  are  developing,  and  developing  quite  rapidly. 
And they will help.

There are very many possibilities for developing large ﬁ elds of 
ﬁ nancial resources that can be channelled into venture capital, 
for  example,  UK  pension  funds.  But  what  is  often  missing  are 
venture fund managers who know how to manage the relation-
ship between capital and small equity users. And it’s the devel-
opment  of  that  management  capacity  which  may  be  crucial. 
We’re  contributing  to  this  process.  Under  the  CIP,  we  will  be 
channelling some €1 billion into small loans to business and to 
supporting  venture  capital  funds.  This  will  be  managed  for  us 
by the European investment Fund (EIF), which will have signiﬁ -
cant  impact  on  the  loan  guarantee  domain  which  channels  a 
lot more money in loans to small businesses. They have a very 
important role to play in increasing the scale of venture capital 
funds and in creating venture capital fund management teams 
with the necessary skills and track record.  

Large amounts of money are also available through the Structur-
al Funds, and in particular from the JEREMIE initiative, through 
which Structural Fund money can be used to support the devel-
opment  of  venture  capital  in  eligible  regions.  So  the  restraint 
is  not  the  money  but  the  capacity  of  the  regions  to  absorb  it 
because  they  lack  the  right  structures  and  skills.  At  the  same 
time, through our policies, we are trying to open up the single 
European market so that venture capital funds can more easily 
operate across internal frontiers. This is not a regulated area, but 
venture capital funds have to comply with many conditions. If 
they are being taxed separately in different countries or have to 

register  in  different  countries,  these  are  heavy  burdens.  We’re 
trying to help them operate across these frontiers. That should 
be possible but is difﬁ cult at the moment.

Why are patents so important in the innovation equation? 

For many reasons. Medium-sized companies use patents to pro-
tect their intellectual property. Small companies need them be-
cause ﬁ nanciers often regard them as a demonstration of own-
ership  of  intellectual  property.  However,  where  they  are  used, 
patents need to be of a high quality, rapidly issued and enforce-
able for a reasonable cost. Now all of those are difﬁ cult, so how 
can we make progress in this area? We still believe the adoption 
of a Community patent with a single jurisdiction and for which 
language  requirements  are  limited  is  the  single  biggest  step. 
There’s a lot of work going on to achieve this, but I would cau-
tion against too simple an assessment of this issue. It’s about the 
use, management and exploitation of intellectual property and 
the patent is only one instrument that can be used.

Why is eco-innovation a focus in the CIP?

Anyone  who  looks  around  realises  that  the  sustainable  use  of 
the environment, the security of energy supply and the ecologic-
ally  tolerable  use  of  energy  are  issues  we  cannot  ignore.  The 
 solutions have to be found through innovation that allows us to 
stop or reduce the use of polluting materials, and that increase 
the efﬁ ciency with which we use energy. If they can be found 
through innovation, we can make radical changes in the sustain-
ability of our energy balance. In the ﬁ eld of ecology and energy, 
there is both a vast potential, and a vast need for innovation. 
The whole question is whether there is also scope to establish a 
‘lead market’ in these areas. In principle, this must be the case 
and if we can demonstrate successful technological solutions in 
Europe they may go on to be the technical solutions, and our 
industry may become the leaders in providing them.

David  White  is  from  Northern  Ireland  (UK),  where  he 
studied  economics  and  politics  at  the  University  of  Bel-
fast. Before joining the European Commission in Brussels 
in 1974, he worked for the British Government’s Econom-
ic  Service  in  London.  At  the  Commission,  he  has  held  a 
number of senior posts in the Employment, Internal Mar-
ket  and  Industry  Directorates-General,  and  the  Cabinet 
of the Commission President. In 2000, he was appointed 
director for Enterprise Policy at the Enterprise and Industry 
DG  where  his  main  job  has  been  to  establish  the  prior-
ities for enterprise policy for the coming ﬁ ve years. Since 
1 January 2005, he has been director of the ‘Innovation 
policy’ directorate.

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FEATURE

FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE

2007-2013: seven years o

Next year is a real landmark for the European Union. The 
EU’s  new  seven-year  ﬁ nancial  perspective  prioritises  pol-
icies for sustainable growth and economic progress, under-
pinned  by  innovation,  the  engine  of  European  prosperity. 
EU ﬁ nancial instruments covering the period from 2007 to 
2013 have been recalibrated to promote innovation-friend-
ly  policies,  societies  and  markets.  Euroabstracts  looks  at 
where this policy will lead Europe, and what this will mean 
for enterprise.

Innovation has long been the foundation of Europe’s prosperity 
and, over the years, has provided answers to many of the most 
pressing economic and social issues facing the continent. From 
2007, the EU will enter the innovation sphere with all guns blaz-
ing. Nearly all the ﬁ nancial instruments at the Union’s disposal 
will serve, in one way or another, to make the continent a more 
innovative place. This includes not only the obvious candidates, 
such as the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP) 
and the Seventh Framework Programme for Research (FP7), but 
also the Structural Funds.

In May 2006, the European Commission published detailed re-
vised budget proposals for each EU programme for the period 
2007 to 2013, following agreement by the European Parliament 
and  the  Council  of  Ministers  on  the  overall  ﬁ nancial  frame-
work(1). These proposed budgets prioritise policies for growth 
and economic progress, solidarity, security and a reinforced role 
for Europe in the world. “Our challenge was to secure the mod-
ernisation and development of an enlarged Europe, within the 
funds available under the ﬁ nancial framework. New-generation 
programmes  designed  to  stimulate  economic  growth  and 
employment  were  a  clear  priority  for  the  Commission,” 
EU Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budget, Dalia 
Grybauskaite explained at the time. 

For  innovation  policy,  the  ﬁ nancial  framework  is  an  essential 
context  within  which  innovation  policy  objectives  –  through 
speciﬁ c programmes – will be pursued for the next seven years. 
This  is  a  real  watershed  for  the  Commission’s  policies  and  a 
 major  attempt  at  maintaining  the  momentum  of  the  Lisbon 
Partnership for Growth and Jobs(2). The Council and Parliament 
should formally adopt all these proposals by the end of 2006. 

Keep innovating!

On 20 October 2006, the Finnish Presidency hosted an informal 
summit in Lahti, Finland. The aim of the top-level gathering was 
to generate high-level debate and a commitment to act on two 
major European topics: energy and innovation. Both are seen as 
crucial to European competitiveness and growth.

The summit took as its agenda a framework of actions designed 
to foster innovation in Europe, including a ten-point action plan, 
published in September 2006. A Communication, published in 
advance  of  the  summit(3),  called  on  EU  leaders  to  support  a 
small number of proposals inspired by current innovation policy 
thinking which might reap beneﬁ ts for Europe over a relatively 
short period of time. 

“Europe has a proud tradition of inventing 
solutions that have improved people’s lives 
all over the world... innovation is the key 
to tackling the main challenges we face now.” 

Communication from the 
Commission to the European Council 
‘An innovation-friendly, modern Europe’

The policy document ﬂ agged up the disparity between 
the  impressive  innovation  performance  of  individual 
Member States and the shortfall of the EU as a whole. 
It also noted the strategic approach taken with regard 
to innovation by emerging economies. Paradoxically, 
Europe does fundamental research fantastically, but is 
somewhat lacking when it comes to applications. That 
is, it invents but has difﬁ culty converting its inventions 
into new products and patents and, by extension jobs 
and wealth. 

Innovative start-ups exist, but often fail to grow into big-
ger and more successful companies; and there is an im-
balance between sectors in innovation take-up. In short, 
the  Communication  concluded  that  educationally, 
demo graphically and organisationally, Europe is handi-
capped in its push towards greater innovation. The keys 
to unlocking Europe’s innovation potential were set out 
along three main lines in the Communication: 

8

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FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE

FEATURE

s of innovation

Establishing European leadership in future strategic 
technologies by using European Technology Platforms 
to  bring  together  public  and  private  stakeholders  to 
deﬁ ne  long-term  research  and  technology  agendas  to 
help  bring  R&D  results  to  the  market.  Some  of  these 
platforms are already successful enough to necessitate 
the setting up of Joint Technology Initiatives (JTIs) which 
are dedicated public-private partnerships.

Forging  stronger  links  between  universities,  re-
search  and  business  to  unlock  the  knowledge 
held  by  academic  and  the  scientiﬁ c  community  for 
Europe’s  economic  and  social  good.  This  involves 
revamping  the  relationship  between  academia  and 
enterprise  within  a  new  innovation  model.  Cluster 
policy  continues  to  play  an  important  role  in  Mem-
ber States’ innovation strategies. The proposed ﬂ ag-
ship  European  Institute  of  Technology  (EIT)  would  provide 
an innovative model for strengthening co-operation between 
 universities, research centres and the business community. 

Improving framework conditions by establishing a fully-ﬂ edged 
single  market,  ﬁ nancing  innovation  through  better  access  to 
 early-stage ﬁ nancing. This also involves making sure that there is 
a proper framework for intellectual property rights (IPRs), a work-
able EU-wide patent, and that open and interoperable standards 
guarantee the smooth working of new technologies.

The recommendations of the Lahti informal European Council(4) 
are set to guide the push for innovation development over the 
2007-2013  ﬁ nancial  period  and  underpin  the  development  of 
speciﬁ c programme initiatives. Progress on the proposals will be 
monitored at future Spring European Council meetings. 

Paradigm shifts and holistic 
approaches

As recognised in the Lahti Summit Communication, the em-
phasis  on  innovation-related  policies  has  not  emerged  from 
the  ether.  In  October  2005,  the  Commission  published  a 
Communication  on  a  new  ‘Common  approach  to  Research 
and  Innovation’(5)  (see  Euroabstracts,  October  2005(6)). 
This  Communication  focused  on  the  complementarities  of 
the EU’s innovation and research programmes and other EU 
funds and policy areas. It established an integrated approach 
to  EU  research  and  innovation  policies  and  focused  on  im-
proving the conditions for private sector investment in R&D 
and innovation. 

CIP AT A GLANCE

Objectives 

(cid:129)  Fostering the competitiveness of enterprises, especially SMEs
(cid:129)  Promoting all forms of innovation
(cid:129)  Accelerating the development of a sustainable, competitive, 

innovative and inclusive information society

(cid:129)  Promoting energy efﬁ ciency and new and renewable energy 

sources

The CIP is made up of three speciﬁ c programmes:

The  Entrepreneurship  and  Innovation  Programme  is  tar-
geted at the start-up and growth of SMEs and fostering all forms 
of innovation.  With a budget of €2.17 billion, it facilitates bet-
ter access to ﬁ nance, integrates existing support services and 
supports innovation activities and networking among innov-
ators. €1 billion are devoted to the European Investment Fund 
(EIF) for co-investment in venture capital funding. 

The ICT Policy Support Programme will pump €730 million 
into promoting more efﬁ cient and wider uptake of Information 
and Communication Technologies, supporting ICT-based pub-
lic interest projects and the development of digital content.

The  Intelligent  Energy-Europe  Programme  will  invest 
€730 million  in  promoting  the  increased  use  of  renewable 
energy and reduced energy consumption through alternative 
energy sources and technological solutions to reduce green-
house gas emissions from transport usage.

In future, all innovation policy initiatives, such as PRO INNO 
Europe(a) and Europe Innova, will draw on funds from the CIP. 
PRO INNO Europe aims to improve policy learning based on 
sharing experiences, with examples of best practice through-
out the EU, and to increase and improve trans-national innov-
ation policy co-operation. It brings together the PAXIS initia-
tive,  the  TrendChart  on  Innovation  in  Europe,  including  the 
European  Innovation  Scoreboard,  and  a  series  of  innovation 
policy studies in a common framework.

Europe Innova will play a major role to create new ‘lead mar-
kets’  in  Europe,  by  bringing  together  actors  from  research, 
business and ﬁ nance. The next step under this initiative will be 
to help innovative service companies to grow faster.

(a)  http://cordis.europa.eu/innovation/en/policy/pro-inno.htm

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FEATURE

FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE

A successor to this is what has become known as the European 
Commission’s  ‘ten-point  plan’(7)  which  was  published  in  Sep-
tember 2006 and provided the basis for the Lahti Summit’s rec-
ommendations  (see  review  on  page  three).  This  broad-based 
strategy was inspired partly by the ﬁ ndings of the Aho Report, 
published  in  early  2006  (see  Euroabstracts,  April  2006(8)).  The 
report  –  named  after  the  Finnish  former  Prime  Minister  Esko 
Aho  who  headed  the  expert  group  which  produced  it  –  puts 
research and innovation at the centre of action to fulﬁ l the goals 
of  the  re-focused  Lisbon  Strategy.  The  Aho  recommendations 
called for a paradigm shift in R&D and innovation policy and in 
other broader European social models, too.

However, with the publication of the ten-point plan came an 
acknowledgement:  despite  a  strong  policy  focus  on  innov-
ation, the EU had not yet become as innovative as it should 
be  and  that  more  resources  would  need  to  be  allocated  to 
education, research and the creation of high-value jobs and 
growth. The plan called for action at national and European 
level  to  foster  innovation  as  the  main  asset  of  the  EU  econ-
omy.  It  attempts  to  glue  public  policy  together  with  indus-
try-led innovation to strengthen the backbone of the Lisbon 
Strategy and revitalise it. 

Converting intentions into 
concrete action

There is clearly an enormous amount of policy thinking aimed at 
developing innovation potential and growing the EU economy. 
But  how  are  these  aims  being  converted  into  concrete  action 
through speciﬁ c programmes during 2007-2013?

The Competitiveness and Innovation Framework 
Programme (CIP)

In  April  2005,  the  Commission  adopted  a  proposal  to 
 establish  a  Competitiveness  and  Innovation  Framework 
Programme  (CIP)  for  2007-2013(9).  The  CIP  is  a  major  and 
ambitious ﬂ agship programme. It aims to unify all EU activity 
in  the  ﬁ eld  of  entrepreneurship,  small  and  medium-sized 
enterprises  (SMEs),  industrial  competitiveness,  innovation, 
ICT  development  and  use,  envir onmental  technologies  and 
intelligent energy.

Over  the  next  seven  years,  €3.6  billion  will  be  invested  in 
innovation  and  growth.  “The  CIP  brings  together  a  range  of 
European actions into a single comprehensive programme. The 
programme has a clear objective: increasing European competi-
tiveness and innovation. This is a direct response to the call of 
the Lisbon mid-term review for simpler, more visible and more 
targeted EU action to boost growth and jobs,” explained Com-
mission Vice-President Günter Verheugen, who is responsible for 
enterprise and industry policy.

Research: innovation’s intimate partner

Research and innovation are intimate bedfellows. Without good 
science,  there  would  be  little  innovation.  Without  innovation, 
the  economic  and  social  pay-off  of  research  would  be  much 
 diminished.  This  awareness  of  the  causal  R&I  link  is  deeply 
 wedded  into  the  Union’s  Seventh  Framework  Programme  for 
Research (FP7)(10), which is due to start next year.

This ambitious seven-year effort will carefully target over €50 
billion  into  promoting  collaborative  research  with  a  high 
socio-economic  and  innovation  dividend  for  the  Union  as  a 
whole. FP7 is constructed around four speciﬁ c programmes: 
co-operation, ideas, people and capacities; and nine themes 
–  many  of  which  are  closely  related  to  boosting  Europe’s 
 innovative capacity.

FP7 focuses on increasing Europe’s growth and competitiveness, 
acknowledging  that   knowledge  is  Europe’s  greatest  resource. 
“FP7  is  centred  on  innovation  and  knowledge  for  growth,” 
 noted  Science  and  Research  Commissioner  Janez  Potočnik.  It 
aims  to  build  an  “internal  market  for  knowledge”,  according 
to Potočnik.

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FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE

FEATURE

Under FP7, more emphasis than ever before has been 
placed  on  research  that  is  relevant  to  the  needs  of 
European industry, to help it  compete  internationally, 
and  develop  its  role  as  a  world  leader.  With  the 
 creation  of  a  European  Research  Council  (ERC),  the 
programme will support  European investigator-driven 
 research. Other new elements in FP7 include a  focus 
on   developing  research  that  meets  the  needs  of 
 European  industry,  through  the  work  of  Technology 
Platforms  and  the  new  Joint  Technology  Initiatives 
(JTIs)  and  a  risk-sharing  ﬁ nance  facility  targeted  at 
attracting private R&D investment.

Structural Funds: an innovative new twist

EU  cohesion  policy  embodies  the  spirit  of  European 
solidarity.  Since  the  mid-1980s,  cohesion  policy  has 
been  striving  to  close  the  economic  gap  between 
Member  States  –  ﬁ rst,  those  in  the  south  and  later 
those  to  the  east.  The  main  ﬁ nancial  instrument  of 
 cohesion policy has been the Structural Funds(11).

In  recognition  that  a  fairer  distribution  of  a  larger  economic 
pie is in everyone’s interests, starting from next year,  Structural 
Funds will not just focus on infrastructure but will also gain an 
innovative  new  twist.  Since  so  much  of  our  wealth  is  based 
on innovation, the Funds will be used to boost the innovative 
 capacities of Europe’s regions.

the need to enhance support – on competitive terms – for start-
ups and micro-enterprises, through technical assistance, grants, 
loans, equity, venture capital and guarantees. These actions will 
take  place  in  close  co-operation  between  the  European  Com-
mission  and  other  stakeholders,  such  as  the  European  Invest-
ment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF). 

“The  Structural  Funds  are  recognised  as  the  most  important 
 ﬁ nancial  instrument,  in  terms  of  volume,  for  underpinning 
the  Lisbon  Strategy,”  said  Eddy  Hartog,  the  head  of  Thematic 
 Development and Impact at the Regional Policy DG, in a recent 
interview with European Innovation.

Projects  will  be  funded  through  a  number  of  instruments,  in-
cluding Joint Assistance in Supporting Projects in European Re-
gions (JASPERS), Joint European Resources for Micro-to-Medium 
Enterprises  (JEREMIE)  and  Joint  European  Support  for  Sustain-
able Investment in City Areas (JESSICA).

“The Lisbon Strategy has, in fact, been built into the very foun-
dations of the new Structural Funds programming period,” ob-
served Andrea Mondello, president of Unioncamere, the union 
of Italian chambers of commerce.

This drive to stimulate innovation activities using the Structural 
Funds  will 
involve  mobilising  both  public  and  private 
stakeholders concerned with the development of strategies and 
activ ities, which may be taken up further after testing through 
the  operational  programmes  supported  by  the  European 
Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Structural Fund operational 
programmes  will  co-ﬁ nance  innovation  strategies  through 
research infrastructures, seed capital funds, venture capital, and 
traditional training activities. 

(1)  http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/

06/673&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

(2)  http://ec.europa.eu/growthandjobs/index_en.htm

(3)  COM(2006) 589, 12.10.2006, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
registre/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/
com/2006/0589/COM_COM(2006)0589_EN.pdf

(4)  http://www.eu2006.ﬁ /news_and_documents/other_documents/

vko42/en_GB/1161368914040/

(5)  More Research and Innovation – Investing for Growth and Employment, 

A Common Approach, COM(2005) 488, http://cordis.europa.eu/
innovation/en/policy/communications/home.html

(6)  ftp://ftp.cordis.lu/pub/euroabstracts/docs/eabs-3-05.pdf

(7)  Putting knowledge into practice: a broad-based innovation strategy for 

the EU, COM(2006) 502, 13.9.2006

(8)  ftp://ftp.cordis.lu/pub/euroabstracts/docs/eabs-2-06.pdf

(9)  http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/enterprise_policy/cip/index_en.htm

The  European  Commission’s  Communication  entitled  ‘Cohe-
sion policy in support of growth and jobs, Community strategic 
guidelines 2007-2013(12)’ puts improving access to ﬁ nance for 
SME development as a top priority. In particular, it emphasises 

(10)  http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/

(11)  http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/funds/prord/sf_en.htm

(12)  http://europa.eu.int/comm/regional_policy/sources/docofﬁ c/

2007/osc/index_en.htm

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KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY

BEHAVIOURAL ADDITIONALITY

The value added of 

public research funding

Governments fund R&D and evaluate the dir-
ect  results  of  their  research  programmes.  But 
little is known about the wider impact of pub-
lic  support  on  company  behaviour  and  the 
innovation  process.  Analysis  of  behavioural 
additionality tries to shed more light on these 
issues, with some interesting outcomes.

Understanding the impact of public funding of 
an  R&D  programme  is  made  challenging  by 
variations in the type of impact being con sidered. 
Traditional  evaluations  focus  on   assessing  the 
level  of  additional  spending  on  R&D  resulting 
from government support, or additional outputs, such as patents, 
achieved from the research process. Measuring changes in the ways 
ﬁ rms conduct research and the type of R&D carried out because of 
government policy instruments – behavioural additionality – is still 
a relatively new area of investigation.

Studies  of  the  impact  of  public  R&D  grants  often  fail  to  dis-
tinguish  between  single  projects  and  longer-term  business 
innovation  strategies.  Evaluations  have  difﬁ culty  determining 
what effects to measure and how to attribute these to speciﬁ c 
government measures. They tend to consider the shorter-term 
leverage of public funding on business R&D, but not the longer-
term and more enduring effects of changes in ﬁ rm behaviour. 

In additionality

Three  types  of  additionality  can  be  achieved  through  public 
funding.  Input  additionality  considers  whether  public  funding 
supplements  or  substitutes  a  ﬁ rm’s  own  expenditure.  Output 
additionality  measures  the  proportion  of  outputs  achieved 
through government support. Behavioural additionality gauges 
the difference in a ﬁ rm’s behaviour resulting from government 
intervention. Did it collaborate more with other partners? Did 
it enter a new ﬁ eld of science and technology? Did it institute 
new R&D management processes? These types of change may 
continue  to  affect  a  ﬁ rm’s  innovation  processes  long  after  the 
government programme ends.

To  consider  this  ﬁ nal  form  of  additionality,  it  must  ﬁ rst  be 
meas ured.  Possible  dimensions  include  knowledge  acquisi-
tion,   improved  skills,  acquired  competences,  and  investment 
 decisions and market positioning. Experimentation is needed to 
determine which dimensions are of most importance to business 
performance and most amenable to government intervention.

Studies have shown that government funding enables ﬁ rms to 
accelerate the completion of R&D projects, and bring new prod-
ucts and services to the market sooner. It also encourages them 
to launch projects involving greater technological challenges. In 
many cases, ﬁ rms pursue research projects that otherwise would 
be abandoned or delayed.

Government  funding  also  encourages  ﬁ rms  to  form   consortia 
with collaboration continuing beyond the life of the R&D  project, 
often in the form of networks. Firms without a long tradition of 
R&D often institute more formal R&D management practices to 
ensure compliance with government reporting  procedures.

Positive EU impacts

Re-examination  of  the  EU  ﬁ ve-year  assessment  of  the  Fifth 
Framework  Programme  (FP5)  found  signiﬁ cant  additionality 
impacts.  Some  70%  of  participants  reported  that  they  would 
have engaged fewer partners – international partners, in particu-
lar – without EU funds. Almost half stated that their objectives 
would have been less ambitious without EU support. Only 16% 
of failed applicants proceeded with projects.

National programmes produced other speciﬁ c outcomes. In Aus-
tralia, R&D Start grants induced substantial behaviourial changes, 
such as changes in project management practices and ongoing 
collaborations with universities and public laboratories.

In the Belgian region of Flanders, impacts varied depending on 
the type of ﬁ rms. There was signiﬁ cant behavioural additionality 
in large companies without permanent R&D facilities. High-tech 
SMEs  gained  support  for  core  activities  through  research  sub-
sidies. In Finland, public funding of R&D was found to lever in 
private funding, and more than half of supported ﬁ rms pursued 
R&D not connected to short-term business needs. 

In Germany, public support increased the scale and complexity of 
projects. In Ireland, two-thirds of companies indicated that public 
funding had enabled R&D facilities to be located or maintained in 
the country. In the UK, it was found that people recruited for a re-
search project were retained for subsequent work, with enhanced 
technological knowledge and skills applied in subsequent activities.

The value of assessing behaviourial additionality can be embed-
ded in a range of policy evaluations. But such evaluations must 
recognise  that  inﬂ uences  on  behaviour  can  be  unintentionally 
bad, as well as intentionally positive. The key is to understand 
the  different  behavioural  changes  induced  by  policy  instru-
ments  and  to  develop  mixes  that  combine  policies  to  bring 
about  positive,  long-lasting  changes  that  improve  innovation 
performance.

Government R&D funding and company behaviour: 
measuring behaviourial additionality
ISBN 92-64-02584-7
OECD, Paris, 2006
English, 243 pp, €50 (paper) or €35 (PDF) 
Order: www.sourceoecd.org

12

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EDUCATION

KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY

Boosting the power 

of lifelong learning

Once  in  school,  the  opportunity  to  close  the  gap  for  poor-
er  children  falls  rapidly.  It  is  now  clear  that  the  segregation 
of  children  into  different  schools  by  ability  before  the  age 
of  13  (known  as  ‘tracking’)  has  negative  effects  on  children 
from  poorer  backgrounds.  Countries  where  tracking  is  com-
mon have a wider range of pupil achievement than those that 
do  not.  “Early  tracking  has  especially  negative  effects  on  the 
achievement levels of disadvantaged children. This is partly be-
cause it tends to channel them towards less prestigious forms 
of  education  and  training,”  the  Communication  elucidates.  
What does make a difference, says the document, is the qual-
ity,  experience  and  motivation  of  teachers  and  this  is  where 
investment should be made.

Higher education

By the time young people leave school, social disadvantage is 
well  established.  The  long-held  belief  that  free  higher  educa-
tion guarantees equity has, paradoxically, not been borne out. 
Although the number of students in higher education is rising, 
children from better-off homes are still much more likely to go 
to university than children from poorer homes. The Communi-
cation argues that the US and Australian model of tuition fees 
plus support for disadvantaged students may be a better route 
to both equity and efﬁ ciency.

But the gap persists throughout life. Only 10.8% of Europeans 
are in any form of lifelong learning – even then, well-educated 
people are more likely to be doing so than their less well-edu-
cated fellows. In 2004, 32% of the EU workforce was classed as 
‘low skilled’ but forecasts show that, by 2010, only 15% of new 
jobs will be for those with only basic schooling. Well-targeted 
investment in vocational education and training throughout life 
will be every bit as important as academic education if Europe is 
to close the skills gap.

Efﬁ ciency and equity in European education and training systems
COM(2006) 481 ﬁ nal
European Commission, Brussels, 2006
English, 11 pp, free of charge
Free download: http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/2010/
doc/comm481_en.pdf 

Education is at the heart of innovation. Europe can expand 
its  education  and  training  systems,  while  improving  both 
fairness  and  value  for  money,  according  to  a  policy  paper 
from the European Commission.

Two  valued  attributes  of  Europe’s  education  and  training  sys-
tems are equity and efﬁ ciency. Equity, in this context, means that 
people can take advantage of education and training regardless 
of  their  socio-economic  background.  It  is  not  just  a  matter  of 
access but also of outcome. People from poorer families should 
have the same access as everyone else but should also be able 
to beneﬁ t as much as anyone else. 

Efﬁ ciency is harder to pin down but means that the education 
and training system in some sense repays the investment made 
in it, whether measured by qualiﬁ cations gained or by a wider 
beneﬁ t to society and the economy. 

The big question is whether we can expand our education and 
training systems, while making them more equitable and more 
efﬁ cient.  The  European  Commission  thinks  we  can,  and  this 
Communication explains how.

Start early

A central insight is that not only is investment in education more 
 efﬁ cient earlier in life, as we might expect, but that the gains are 
even greater for children from poorer backgrounds. In other words, 
the biggest gains in both equity and efﬁ ciency can be made by in-
vesting in pre-primary education. Long-term studies in the United 
States and Europe show that such intervention can improve both 
academic achievement and employment, family relationships and 
health. It can even help to reduce crime, it would appear.

More competitive tax and beneﬁ t systems

Ensuring that tax and beneﬁ ts systems underwrite both social solidarity and economic 
competitiveness is a delicate balancing act. In March 2005, the Economic and Financial 
Affairs DG organised a workshop on the so-called ‘making work pay’ policies and indica-
tors, to contribute to the debate on reforms of tax and beneﬁ t systems. This publication 
brings together the contributions presented at that workshop. By shedding light on such 
issues  as  indicators,  incentives,  eligibility  rules  and  labour  market  restructuring,  these 
contributions provide new policy insights and draw useful conclusions  from recent re-
forms implemented by Member States.

Indicators and policies to make work pay 
ISBN 92-894-9040-3
European Commission, Brussels, 2006 
English, 199 pp, €50
Free download: http://bookshop.eu.int/
eubookshop/FileCache/PUBPDF/KCAF05002ENC/
KCAF05002ENC_002.pdf

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KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY

R&D INVESTMENT

Is it time to rethink 

the 3% target?

 Business  and  communication  services  grew  slower  in  the  US. 
Employment  growth  in  non-knowledge  services  was  compar-
able, albeit in different sub-sectors.

The crunch

Although Europe possesses knowledge economy strengths, this 
has not produced enough pay-off in terms of economic growth 
and  productivity.  In  fact,  employment  growth  in  knowledge-
based  industries  coincided  with  a  slowdown  in  productivity 
growth. Across the Atlantic, productivity growth accelerated. 

OECD indicators show that EU economies – except for the Nor-
dic  states  –  did  not  increase  their  knowledge  investment  be-
tween  1994  and  2002.  The  latest  ﬁ gures  suggest  that  the  EU 
is  still  falling  short  of  its  self-imposed  R&D  investment  target 
of 3% of GDP. The transatlantic gap is also widening. In 1995, 
EU R&D investment levels were 77% of US levels. In 2004, they 
stood at 72%.

However, the 3% target may not be entirely appropriate. When 
it  was  set,  US  research  investment  was  2.8%  of  GDP,  but  has 
since fallen. Only three OECD economies currently achieve the 
3%  level  –  Sweden,  Finland  and  Japan.  Japan  may  have  over-
invested – it does not achieve the economic growth expected 
from its volume. Investment levels in the Nordic countries are 
based  on  innovation  systems  that  took  decades  to  build  and 
cannot be quickly replicated.

With EU investment in R&D increasing by less than 0.1% in ten 
years, it is argued that the 3% target is not really achievable and 
focusing  on  it  unduly  could  actually  become  counterproduct-
ive.  A  shortage  in  the  supply  of  researchers  could  lead  to  any 
attempt at rapidly increasing R&D investment driving up wages 
rather than increasing activity. A shortage of capacity within the 
EU could drive some R&D investment overseas – making it actu-
ally harder to achieve the Lisbon target. 

While abandoning an agreed target might send the wrong mes-
sage, sticking with an unachievable one could well create disillu-
sionment. A lower target could help boost incentives for private 
research  investment,  focus  what  resources  are  available  more 
effectively,  and  possibly  draw  more  resources  to  productivity-
boosting ICT and automation.

The knowledge economy in Europe 
The Work Foundation, London, 2006
English, 23 pp, free of charge
Download: www.theworkfoundation.com/Assets/PDFs/KE_Europe.pdf 

Europe’s knowledge industry has grown faster than that of 
the United States over the last decade. Nevertheless, the EU 
has not fully reaped the fruits of its knowledge-based econ-
omy  owing  to  certain  weaknesses  in  economic  dynamism 
and  productivity,  according  to  a  UK  think-tank.  It  suggests 
a lower R&D target.

More  Europeans  are  employed  in  knowledge-based  industries 
than  across  the  Atlantic  (40%  of  the  EU  workforce  in  2005, 
against  38%  in  the  United  States).  As  usual,  there  are  major 
variations  between  Member  States.  At  the  top  of  the  ladder, 
the  ﬁ gure  is  around  half  of  workers  in  Sweden,  Denmark  and 
Finland. At the bottom, it hovers at around a quarter in Greece 
and Portugal.

Most  new  jobs  created  in  the  last  decade  in  the  EU-15  have 
been  in  the  knowledge-based  industries.  These  rose  by  24%, 
compared with 6% in other employment sectors, or 13.3 mil-
lion new jobs. In several Member States, employment actually 
fell in other sectors.

Aim for the middle ground

Manufacturing  employment  was  stable  across  the  EU-15.  With 
big job losses in high-tech and low-tech manufacturing, this sug-
gests strength in medium-tech sectors. The fall in high-tech jobs 
reﬂ ects the end of the ICT boom in the late 1990s. Low-tech job 
falls result from low-wage competition in developing countries. 

Employment in knowledge-based services grew by 31% – twice 
as  fast  as  other  services.  US  employment  levels  in  knowledge-
based industries are lower than in the Nordic countries, the Neth-
erlands and the UK. The USA has a lower share of employment in 
high- to medium-tech manufacturing and in public-based serv-
ices,  such  as  education  and  health.  Growth  in  US  knowledge-
based industries over the last decade has been somewhat slower 
than in Europe. In the EU, it was 24%, in the USA, 21%.

But  there  are  signiﬁ cant  differences.  Far  more  jobs  were  shed 
in the US in technology-based manufacturing. Employment in 
US ﬁ nancial services rose by 19%, against just 2.5% in the EU. 

14

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MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

COMPETITIVENESS

Finding a remedy 

for the big merger blues

Large  corporations  could 
lengthy  and  costly 
avoid 
 approval  procedures 
for 
mergers  and  acquisitions,  if 
they  provide  well-adapted 
solutions  to  competition 
concerns,  a  European  Com-
mission report suggests.

Mergers  and  acquisitions  can 
be good for business but they 
can  also  be  bad  for  competi-
tion, depending on the kind of 
market  position  the  eventual 
entity  acquires.  The  European 
Commission  has  the  role  of 
evaluating the potential impact 
of such fusions on the efﬁ cient functioning of the market and ap-
proving or rejecting them. But this is not a straightforward ‘Yes’ or 
‘No’ process and involves dialogue with the ﬁ rms involved.

 A recent assessment of 40 merger cases implemented between 
1996  and  2000  shows  that  companies  prepared  to  make  the 
effort to put forward comprehensive solutions to probable com-
petition concerns – rather than offering half-hearted proposals 
or, worse still, contesting them entirely – are the most likely to 
win rapid, trouble-free approval from the Commission.

Avoiding hiccups

Ofﬁ cials  at  the  Commission’s  Competition  DG  found  that  a 
large  number  of  companies  experienced  either  delays  in  the 
approval  process  or  a  signiﬁ cantly  higher  risk  of  future  legal 
action  as  a  result  of  failing  to  address  competition  concerns. 
Most  companies  suggested  such  measures  as  selling  off  part 
of  the  merged  companies  or  breaking  existing  joint  venture 
agreements with potential competitors. However, in over 70% 
of the cases, these measures did not go nearly far enough to 
satisfy the regulators.

For example, when companies agreed to sell off various oper-
ations, these were often too small to be of interest to rival ﬁ rms, 
or were limited to certain countries, once again reducing their 
attractiveness. 

But  the  Commission  also  recognises  its  own  shortcomings  in 
approving some deals where the measures proposed by com-
panies have, with hindsight, failed to create signiﬁ cant competi-
tion.  The  report  found  that  there  were  194  serious  concerns 
about  the  lack  of  competition  arising  from  83  cases  where  a 
company  agreed  to  sell  assets  or  exit  from  joint  ventures,  of 
which 59 are still not resolved. 

To address this, some rules have been tightened to ensure that 
measures  suggested  by  companies  are  more  effective.  For  ex-
ample, companies now have to guarantee that any businesses 
sold are viable in their own right, rather than a loose collection 
of unrelated, unproﬁ table or geographically diverse assets. 

Nevertheless,  there  is  still  plenty  of  room  for  improvement.  The 
report suggests that companies should also be obliged to tell the 
Commission to what extent the businesses sold would continue to 
be reliant on them – such as for access to raw materials or propri-
etary technology. It also recommends that the regulators should be 
strict with companies to ﬁ nd an up-front buyer for the parts of the 
business to be sold in cases where there are serious doubts about 
the attractiveness to competitors of the assets up for sale. 

Merging  ﬁ rms  can  help  their  case  enormously  by  developing 
an awareness of possible competition concerns and proposing 
feasible remedies before approaching the Commission.

Merger remedies study. Public version
ISBN 92-79-00420-4
European Commission, Competition DG, Brussels, 2005
English, 237 pp, €15
Free download: http://bookshop.eu.int/eubookshop/
FileCache/PUBPDF/KD7105376ENS/KD7105376ENS_002.pdf

Inﬂ ated fears of price rises

Many European consumers are convinced that the introduction of the euro has resulted 
in price hikes. The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), the EU’s main measure 
of inﬂ ation, shows a massive perception gap. For instance, in the year following the intro-
duction of euro notes and coins in 2002, euro-area consumers believed prices had risen 
by around 4%, whereas they had actually only risen by around 2%, the Union’s optimal 
annual inﬂ ation target, which was about the same level as the previous year. “Unusual 
price increases affected a number of small items we buy frequently. Everyday, small, cash 
purchases determine our perceptions of price inﬂ ation more than less frequent purchases, 
such as a new computer, insurance or rental costs. However, their inﬂ uence on the cost 
of living is less,” the leaﬂ et explains.

euroabstracts December 2006

Did the euro cause prices to rise? 
Perceptions and reality
European Commission, Brussels, 2006
English/other EU languages, 2 pp, free of charge
Download: http://bookshop.eu.int/
eubookshop/FileCache/PUBPDF/
KC7005956END/KC7005956END_002.pdf 

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COMPETITIVENESS

GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS REPORT

European economies top 
global competitiveness index

Four  European  countries  top  a  new  ranking  of  the  world’s 
most  competitive  economies.  Despite  concern  over  Europe’s 
economic performance in recent years, this is a clear sign that 
the picture is rosier than many think.

We  are  constantly  being 
told  that  Europe  needs 
to  be  more  competitive. 
But when four European 
countries come out as the 
most  competitive  in  the 
world and another three 
make  the  top  ten,  one 
wonders  whether  things 
might be better than we 
thought.  The  measure 
in question is the Global 
Competitiveness  Index  (GCI),  a  new  indicator  compiled  by  the 
World Economic Forum from public data and opinion surveys.

Top of the GCI is Switzerland, followed by Finland, Sweden and 
Denmark. Singapore comes in ﬁ fth place, just ahead of the Unit-
ed States and Japan, which in turn are just ahead of Germany, 
the Netherlands and the UK (see table).

The GCI is made up of three groups of nine ‘pillars’: basic re-
quirements  (such  as  institutions  and  infrastructure),  efﬁ ciency 
enhancers  (e.g.  higher  education  and  market  efﬁ ciency),  and 
innovation and sophistication factors.

The report classiﬁ es economies according to their stages of de-
velopment. Stage one economies (‘factor-driven’) compete on 
the basis of their natural resources and unskilled labour. As econ-
omies  develop  and  move  into  stage  two  (‘efﬁ ciency  driven’), 
they need to improve production processes and the quality of 
their products. Finally, in stage three, innovation and business 
sophistication become key.

Of  the  soon-to-be  EU-27,  Bulgaria,  Latvia,  Lithuania,  Poland, 
Romania  and  Slovakia  are  at  stage  two.  The  Czech  Republic, 
Estonia, Hungary and Malta are in transition to stage three, and 
all the rest are at stage three.

Ahead of the game

Switzerland  –  a  member  of  the  European  Economic  Area  –  is 
the  world’s  most  competitive  economy.  It  seems  to  have  got 
almost everything right, and only comes in for criticism for its 
agricultural  subsidies  and  trade  barriers.  Finland,  Sweden  and 
Denmark  come  next.  All  three  have  budget  surpluses,  as  well 
as occupying the top three positions for higher education and 
training. Finland and Denmark have the “best institutions in the 
world” and their primary education and health systems are bet-
ter than Switzerland’s. 

“The Nordic countries show that transparent institutions and ex-
cellent macroeconomic management, coupled with world class 
educational attainment and a focus on technology and innov-
ation are a successful strategy for maintaining competitiveness 
in small, highly developed economies,” the report says.

The US has fallen from ﬁ rst to sixth place and despite remaning a 
highly competitive economy – ranking high for market efﬁ ciency, 
innovation, higher education and training, and business sophistica-
tion – is beginning to show weaknesses. Its ﬁ scal deﬁ cit has pushed 
it to 69th for macroeconomic environment and there is also con-
cern about the quality of health care and of public institutions.

Two  major  European  economies  –  Germany  and  the  United 
Kingdom – also make the top ten. Both have excellent institu-
tional  ratings,  but  macroeconomic  indicators  are  more  prob-
lematic for both. Germany’s infrastructure leads the world and 
its innovation outranks the UK’s but the UK does better in higher 
education and training and excels in market efﬁ ciency. Germany 
leads in business sophistication but cannot match the UK’s ﬂ ex-
ible labour market and low unemployment.

France  appears  in  18th  place  despite  its  otherwise  excellent 
business climate. The report, when pointing to some negative 
aspects, says that all of these can be quickly addressed and there 
is no reason for France not to reach the top ten “within a rela-
tively short time frame”.

The  United  States  has  long  been  held  up  as  an  exemplar  for 
European  aspirations  but  it  is  not  the  only  one.  If  we  want  to 
ﬁ nd  excellence  in  global  competitiveness,  we  have  plenty  of 
shining examples of our own.

Top ten economies as measured by the Global 
Competitiveness Index

Country
Switzerland
Finland
Sweden
Denmark
Singapore
United States
Japan
Germany
The Netherlands
United Kingdom

2006 Rank 2006 Score 2005 Rank
5.81
5.76
5.74
5.70
5.63
5.61
5.60
5.58
5.56
5.54

4
2
7
3
5
1
10
6
11
9

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

The global competitiveness report 2006-2007
ISBN 1-4039-9636-9
World Economic Forum
Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2006
English, 608 pp, £65 (€97 approx)
Info: http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Global%20Compet
itiveness%20Report/

16

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ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION

ENVIRONMENT

Europe’s place 

in the global ecosystem

The  European  Union,  with  its  450  million  inhabitants  and 
3.7 million  km2  of  land,  has  major  environmental  commit-
ments  within  its  borders.  But  it  is  also  a  stakeholder  in  the 
global environment, which brings further responsibilities. 

The EU is a signatory to three international environmental ini-
tiatives: the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Kyoto Pro-
tocol  to  the  Framework  Convention  on  Climate  Change,  and 
the  Convention  to  Combat  Desertiﬁ cation.  It  has  contributed 
to  many  projects  within  these  areas  and  has  now  published  a 
colourful brochure illustrating some examples of this work.

Biodiversity in the rainforest

The primeval African rainforest is abundant in plants and animals 
attuned  to  its  humid  environment,  and  is  the  second  largest 
area of rainforest on Earth. Many parts are increasingly threat-
ened  by  lack  of  proper  management,  encroachment  by  roads 
and poaching for bush meat. With the ECOFAC Programme, the 
EU now helps to manage regional forests in six African countries 
around the equator, totalling 28,000 km2. Among the innova-
tive management tools it has helped to introduce are biologic-
al  inventories  and  patrol  monitoring  tools  using  Geographic 
 Information  Systems.  ECOFAC  also  helped  develop  alternative 
sources of revenue, such as ecotourism which gives an econom-
ic incentive to protect wild animals from poachers and tourists.

In the other main rainforest area, the Amazon basin, the EU sup-
ports job creation in the Manu Biosphere Reserve and National 
Park  in  Peru.  The  project  helped  enhance  revenues  for  local 
communities and farmers from environmentally sound farming 
and forest products. Local people have been made the guard-
ians of the Reserve’s margins and halted the loss of biodiversity.

Combating climate change

Climate change is perhaps the greatest threat to the world envir-
onment and the EU is a major supporter of the Climate Change 
Capacity Development Project which was launched in 1993 to 
provide  training  for  developing  countries.  It  has  partnerships 
with  three  institutions  in  Dakar  (Senegal),  Cape  Town  (South 
Africa) and Colombo (Sri Lanka) to provide innovative training 
and  capacity  building.  Each  partner  is  working  on  a  speciﬁ c 
 topic:  vulnerability  and  adaptation;  sustainable  development; 
and  greenhouse  gas  mitigation.  The  training  modules  they 
 develop are shared with each partner and other local players.

CLARIS  is  an  integrated  climate  change  research  network 
containing a number of European and South American research 
institutes. It helps the partners to develop adaptation strategies 
to  climate  change,  based  on  validated  climate  modelling,  in 
agriculture, health care and hydroelectric power.

Holding back the sand

The people of Mali are ﬁ ghting a desperate battle to stop the 
 Sahara  invading  their  ﬁ elds  on  the  Niger  River.  The  EU  has 
helped with trial plantings to stabilise sand dunes. The initiative 
was so successful that it has been extended to plant eucalyptus 
and establish a forest around Tombouctou which is creating a 
microclimate in which plants can be cultivated. The local com-
munity  has  been  closely  involved  in  these  developments  and 
received  training  in  the  stabilisation  and  cultivation  measures. 
Over €22 million has been spent on this work since 1990.

The  Maghreb  is  also  receiving  help  to  restore  vegetation  on 
some  of  its  wind-scoured  hills.  Forage  shrubs  preserve  the 
soil and also feed herds. A further project in West Africa links 
 national  meteorological  services  in  a  regional  network.  They 
will  collect  data  on  forecast  trends  and  set  up  early- warning 
systems  of  new  land  degradation.  The  aim  is  to  support 
 sustainable land management.

With many more projects like these, the EU plays its part as a 
committed member of the world community.

Acting together – a common commitment to the global environment 
ISBN 92-79-00852-8
European Commission, Brussels, 2006 
English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, 36 pp, free of charge
Download: 
http://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/library/
publications/20_02_rio_broch_en.pdf 

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ENVIRONMENT

WATER MANAGEMENT

Watering down 

the impact of business

Europeans caught in the 
monsoon-style 
down-
pours 
that  drenched 
much  of  the  continent 
in  the  autumn  of  2006 
may  ﬁ nd  it  hard  to  be-
lieve  that  the  world  is 
heading 
for  complex 
water problems. Yet that 
is  the  warning  of  this 
new study by the World 

Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

Growing prosperity, industrial development, expanding popula-
tions,  the  need  for  more  crops  –  all  soak  up  more  and  more 
 water. Despite being the source of life, water is a worryingly ﬁ nite 
resource. We cannot try and develop ‘alternative water’, as we 
are now exploring alternative energy sources. The international 
business members of the WBCSD are committed to sustainable 
development  through  economic  growth,   ecological  balance 
and social progress. They have studied the water  problem since 
1997  to  help  business  understand  why  it  should  worry  about 
water and how it could manage with less.

The Council has already collected data on water usage and trends, 
and identiﬁ ed joint actions for sustainable water management. It 
found that the amount of available water per person will plum-
met  over  the  next  20  years.  Now  it  has  opened  up  discussion 
with the business community and others with a stake in the water 
business: politicians, planners and academics. It chose the tool of 
scenario building, whose results are more ﬂ exible and challeng-
ing than those produced by conventional forecasting.

The scenarios cover three subjects: efﬁ ciency, security of supply 
and the world water system. The ﬁ rst concentrates on making 
each drop of water go further and cost less. The second  covers 
the  fair  distribution  of  water  between  the  haves  and  have-
 lesses, while the third looks at the future global treatment of 
the planet’s water.

Back to basics

The efﬁ ciency scenario imagines what might happen in China 
over  the  next  two  decades.  China’s  gross  domestic  product 
(GDP) is growing by 8% per year, by consuming its resources 

rather  than  by  increased  productivity.  Its  booming  steel  and 
textiles industries are water intensive and the water table is fall-
ing fast. The ﬂ ight from peasant agriculture has already created 
20 mega cities of over 10 million inhabitants each, and others 
are  close  to  this  level.  There  is  increasing  water  stress  in  and 
around these urban concentrations. 

The  authors  imagine  that  this  situation  would  drive  the  Chi-
nese to develop new technologies for water use in advance of 
the rest of the world. Only those international and European 
businesses that collaborate early in these ventures would bene-
ﬁ t from this growth.

Message in a bottle

In the second scenario, water distribution is a growing problem 
in the developing world. Millions of children die each year from 
water-borne  diseases  but  industrial  development  can  divert 
 water  needed  to  improve  health  to  other  uses.  Disputes  are 
likely, but partnerships can offer solutions. For example, rice is 
a very thirsty crop, so water-poor countries should import rice 
grown where more of the wet stuff is available. 

In the third scenario, businesses begin to engage in global polit-
ical processes. The WBCSD envisages a Global Fair Water Move-
ment and a virtual water trading market, following the success 
of  emissions  trading  to  combat  global  warming.  But  business 
will not be able to buy its way out of water problems. It must 
look ahead and plan.

The book is stylish and forceful, although the scenarios are some-
what artiﬁ cially put under the three characters of the chemical 
symbol for water, H2O, as the writers prefer to call it. The writers 
conclude that the water challenge could be as serious as climate 
change. They believe that the scenarios should be a platform for 
action. The crucial message is that water reserves are drying up 
and business leaders need to prepare now. 

Business in the world of water – WBCSD water scenarios to 2025 
ISBN 2-940240-93-0
World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Geneva, 2006 
English, 52 pp, free of charge
Download: 
http://www.wbcsd.org/DocRoot/euNlZxRtjX2BeJ29WTED/
h20-scenarios.pdf  

Europe’s annual environmental health check-up

The 2005 annual report of the European Environment Agency (EEA) assesses the progress 
made  in  all  environmental  and  political  areas  covered  by  the  agency.  It  also  presents 
the  policies  and  initiatives  developed  in  order  to  achieve  the  agency’s  main  objectives 
which are to provide environmental information to policy-makers, to support sustainable 
 development,  and  to  help  improve  Europe’s  environment  signiﬁ cantly.  The  document 
also shows how the EEA has progressed in achieving its ten strategic goals, which include 
the economic analysis of policy interventions and the assessment of Europe’s impact on 
the global environment.

EEA annual report 2005
ISSN 1561-2120
European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, 2006
English, 68 pp, free of charge
Download: http://reports.eea.europa.eu/
report_2005_0802_115659/en/ar2005.pdf

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URBAN ENVIRONMENTS

ENVIRONMENT

Innovative solutions 

for urban environments

Also in the transport area, clean-air technology was introduced 
to Thessaloniki (EL), where trafﬁ c grew by 74% in a decade. Graz 
in Austria found its ambient noise reduced to a less maddening 
level when its bus and taxi drivers were trained in low-noise driv-
ing. Many other cities could beneﬁ t from such training.

Replacing the countryside

Even  if  their  air  has  been  cleaned  up  and  noise  abated,  town 
dwellers  often  have  little  access  to  green  open  spaces.  Towns 
can also be poor habitats for plants and animals, so LIFE has sup-
ported projects to bring the countryside into the town. One has 
involved some of the poorer London boroughs that are home to 
ethnically mixed communities. Green spaces may exist but can 
be  hard  for  new  immigrants  to  ﬁ nd.  An  outreach  programme 
introduced many local people to unsuspected opportunities for 
encouraging biodiversity and got them digging allotments and 
fostering wild habitats. The hardest group to involve were ado-
lescents, but even they liked ‘hanging out by the river’, provid-
ing a hook to engage their interest.

People  increasingly  choose  to  live  in  cities  and  the  number 
of small households is growing. The EU’s LIFE initiative has 
funded over 150 projects that aim to improve the quality of 
life in urban surroundings.

Four  out  of  ﬁ ve  Europeans  now  live  in  towns  of  more  than 
10 000  people.  Most  cities  are  confronted  with  a  core  set  of 
environmental problems – such as poor air quality, high levels of 
trafﬁ c, high level of ambient noise and other sources, a shortage 
of  open  spaces,  greenhouse  gas  emissions  and  large  volumes 
of refuse and sewage. Many cities have been allowed to sprawl 
and their built environment may be in poor repair. These envir-
onmental problems could exacerbate social problems, too.

The  urban  riverside  can  be  a  wonderful  environment  but  is 
 often  degraded.  The  River  Lisauer  in  Vienna  was  deepened 
and  straightened  to  act  as  a  storm  drain.  The  river  is  being 
re engineered  to  be  more  natural  with  planted  banks,  while 
still  providing  adequate  drainage.  By  2015,  the  5km  running 
through the city centre will be regenerated as a natural green 
corridor,  giving  the  Viennese  a  pleasant  outlook,  as  well  as 
 supporting more wildlife. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  also  some  indirect  environmen-
tal beneﬁ ts. Fewer people need cars and those that have them 
drive less than their country cousins. Land use and space heat-
ing are more concentrated and, hence, more economical. There 
are also economies of scale in waste treatment and public trans-
port.  However,  cities  play  an  important  role  in  European  life 
and we need to ﬁ nd the best way of providing a better quality 
of life in urban areas. Although suburbanisation is a threat, the 
urban environment can offer many solutions to environmental 
problems, but it needs action at all levels. This book describes 24 
of the 158 projects that LIFE (Financial investment for the urban 
environment) has supported since 1992.

In town without a car

By 2010, transport will be the largest single cause of global warm-
ing, so it is a prime target for environmental action. Among the 
most successful LIFE projects was a trial in France to encourage 
people not to use their cars in towns and cities for a single day. 
This movement has gone from strength to strength, becoming 
the  European  Mobility  Week  in  September  this  year,  reaching 
hundreds of towns and millions of citizens. The campaign is in-
creasingly popular outside Europe, too, being adopted by cities 
in North and South America, Asia and the Far East. 

The whole urban environment

Other LIFE projects aim to reduce emissions that affect climate 
change,  support  the  sustainable  use  of  natural  resources  and 
contribute to the health and quality of life of Europe’s citizens. 
Such  projects  work  best  when  they  are  integrated  into  a  sus-
tainable  urban  environment  management  plan,  so  some  LIFE 
projects developed integratable instruments. These include en-
vironmental accounting and reporting methods, a code of good 
environmental practice, and local Eco-Management and Audit 
Schemes (EMAS).

The book is a valuable guide to how the urban environment can 
be  improved,  given  seed  funding,  local  commitment  and  col-
laboration  between  authorities  and  citizens.  Many  of  Europe’s 
towns are more comfortable places to live as a result.

LIFE in the city – innovative solutions for Europe’s urban environment
ISBN 92-7902254-7
European Commission, Brussels, 2006 
English, 64 pp, free of charge
Download: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/infoproducts/
urban/urban_hr.pdf

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TECHNOLOGY

COST NETWORKING

The power of 

collective thinking

The  Commission-funded 
COST  initiative,  which  is 
managed by the European 
Science  Foundation,  is  a 
long-running, economical 
and highly successful way 
to  spread  awareness  and 
build  networks  between 
Europe’s researchers. It reﬂ ects the human dimension of sci-
ence, helping researchers to share not only the results of their 
work but also their aims and methods.

Scientiﬁ c research can improve our lives. Research thrives on the 
sharing of ideas, methodologies and results. Research teams who 
co-operate can reach their individual goals more quickly. And the 
stronger European research is, the stronger our society becomes.

The  COST  initiative  (Co-operation  in  Scientiﬁ c  and  Techno-
logical research) improves the quality and speed of research by 
bringing together scientists working on related topics in differ-
ent European countries. COST funding can be used to organise 
networking activities, such as conferences, short-term scientiﬁ c 
exchanges  and  publication  of  results,  over  a  period  of  several 
years,  and  there  is  an  emphasis  on  developing  the  careers  of 
young scientists.

Flexible goalposts

The crucial advantage of this initiative is that there are no pre-
determined areas for co-operation. A research team can propose 
a  COST  action  in  any  scientiﬁ c  ﬁ eld  –  a  bottom-up  approach 
that makes this programme a great way of breaking down bar-
riers between disciplines. Since COST funds only the networking 
activities, rather than the research itself, new partners can join 
throughout the life of an action as the ﬁ eld develops.

COST was launched in 1971, making it one of the longest-stand-
ing  European  research  instruments.  Although  the  programme 
has an annual budget of just €20 million, it facilitates research 
valued  at  a  hundred  times  this  ﬁ gure,  helping  research  teams 
speed up their work and reduce duplication of effort. Every year, 
COST  brings  together  tens  of  thousands  of  researchers  from 
across Europe and beyond, making a practical contribution to 
the development of the European Research Area (ERA) and the 
implementation of the Lisbon Strategy on R&D.

COST in action

This  attractive  booklet  backs  up  the  arguments  in  favour  of 
COST with 20 short case studies.

New areas of science are obvious candidates for new networks. 
One example is our growing interest in quantifying risk by tak-
ing methods developed in physics and applying them to things 
like earthquakes, stock market movements and voting patterns. 
Many  of  the  members  on  COST  Action  P10,  on  the  “physics 
of  risk”,  are  interested  in  ﬁ nancial  applications.  Their  calcula-
tions concern the behaviour of people in the sense that human 
actions, while individually unpredictable, follow statistical rules 
that can give reliable large-scale predictions. 

At other times, simple lack of knowledge about what work is be-
ing done by whom can signiﬁ cantly hinder an established area 
of  research.  This  was  the  case  in  Europe  for  electric  lighting. 
According  to  the  chair  of  COST  Action  529,  ‘Efﬁ cient  lighting 
for the 21st century’, the lighting research community was not 
well structured, and one of the group’s ﬁ rst activities was to cre-
ate  a  “Who’s  who”  of  current  research.  Building  on  this  base, 
researchers  ﬁ rst  developed  networks  and  then  collaborative 
projects that have attracted funding through the EU’s Research 
Framework  Programmes.  All  this  helps  European  lighting  re-
searchers maintain their world standing, and will lead to future 
energy-saving lighting systems.

Sometimes, agreement on goals and standards is the most valu-
able result of networking. This was the case for COST Actions B24, 
‘Laboratory animal science and welfare’, and 846, ‘Measuring and 
monitoring farm animal welfare’. Although animal welfare is a big 
issue, the question of how to measure it has previously hindered 
our  understanding,  with  different  organisations  using  different 
methods. The two COST Actions have generated contacts leading 
to the creation of a full-blown research project that has attracted 
more than €35 million of EU funding, and inﬂ uenced the objectives 
of the forthcoming Seventh Framework Programme.

COST networking – the hub of success
ISBN 92-898-0022-4
European Commission, Brussels, 2006
English, 24 pp, free of charge
http://bookshop.europa.eu/eubookshop/FileCache/PUBPDF/
QSNA22151ENC/QSNA22151ENC_002.pdf

Measuring the COSTs and beneﬁ ts of biometrics

In the past few years, biometrics has become an increasingly important research topic, with 
numerous scientiﬁ c and political implications. Since 2001, the COST initiative (Co-oper-
ation in Scientiﬁ c and Technological research) has been investigating biometric-based rec-
ognition of people over the internet. This report contains the contributions of the speakers 
who attended the COST 275 workshop which took place at the University of Herfordshire 
in October 2005. The papers cover the main technical issues raised by today’s biometric 
technology, including ﬁ ngerprint, palmprint and human face recognition.

Proceedings of the third COST 275 workshop 
– biometrics on the Internet
ISBN 92-898-0019-4
European Commission, Brussels, 2006 
English, 100 pp, free of charge
Download: http://bookshop.eu.int/
eubookshop/FileCache/PUBPDF/QSNA21956ENC/
QSNA21956ENC_002.pdf

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E-COMMUNICATIONS

TECHNOLOGY

Proﬁ le of a 
well-connected continent

Liberalisation of telecoms and broadcasting 
has helped provide a wide choice of phone, 
television and internet services across most of 
Europe. This wide-ranging survey provides a 
record  of  the  situation  at  the  beginning  of 
2006 – and reveals one or two surprises.

Almost  everybody  in  Europe  has  access  to 
ﬁ xed-line and mobile telephony and television, 
and  almost  half  of  Europeans  enjoy  access  to 
personal computers and the internet. But these 
high ﬁ gures conceal continuing gaps between 
countries  in  the  north-west  and  those  in  the 
east and south-east.

The market for electronic communications has changed consid-
erably since 1998, when it was fully liberalised. Technology and 
competition have combined to create new, cheaper, and faster 
services, both wired and wireless. Geographical access has im-
proved and consumers have far more choice.

Television and telephones

Many of this survey’s results are unsurprising, but there are plenty 
of interesting national parallels and differences. Access to televi-
sion is practically universal. Some 97% of EU households have a 
television, with no signiﬁ cant national variations (lowest in Ger-
many, at 95%, while in Greece the ﬁ gure is close to 100%). One-
third of us have cable television, and one-ﬁ fth have satellite.

Overall,  only  3%  of  households  have  no  phone  service  of  any 
kind, (but this average conceals a more considerable 9-12% rate 
in Portugal, Lithuania and Poland). Four-ﬁ fths of Europeans have 
a mobile phone and a similar proportion have ﬁ xed access. Some 
18% have a ﬁ xed line but no mobile and, interestingly, 21% have 
a mobile phone but no ﬁ xed line (mainly for reasons of cost). 

Traditional  national  operators  still  control  more  than  75%  of 
their  national  market,  except  in  the  UK,  Finland,  Sweden  and 
Hungary.  On  the  mobile  market,  the  customer  is  offered  be-
tween three and six choices and no operator holds a dominant 
position  in  any  national  market.  Unlike  with  ﬁ xed  access,  the 
reasons for not having a mobile related more to personal choice 
(75%)  as  opposed  to  cost  (25%).  In  addition,  only  14%  of 
 people aged over 15 said they used public payphones. 

Just over a third of EU citizens know that 112 is the single 
emergency number across the Union, but awareness of 
this is much higher in the countries that have adopted 
the 112 as their sole emergency number (the Nether-
lands, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Portugal) than in 
those which have retained their national numbers.

The broadband success story

Europeans  are  becoming  increasingly  connected  and 
wired up. Half of them own a PC (mainly desktops with 
laptops  functioning  as  second  computers),  and  40% 
have access to the internet. But the survey has shown 
three  interesting  trends.  First,  there  are  still  huge  dis-
crepancies in household access to a PC: from 85% in the Nether-
lands to 33% in Greece. Second, there is an almost perfect correl-
ation between having a PC and access to the internet: 80% of the 
Dutch, and only 19% of the Greeks. This means that not having a 
PC is a clear obstacle to accessing e-services. Finally, it is worth not-
ing that 27% of people with internet access have a WiFi router (up 
to 50% in France) – providing the embryo for a home network.

Just over a ﬁ fth of households have a broadband internet con-
nection, while only 16% rely on dial-up or ISDN (‘narrowband’). 
Broadband  availability  ranges  from  62%  of  households  in  the 
Netherlands to just 2% in Greece. 

Of the 60% of EU households which do not have internet access 
at home, nearly half said they were not interested, while one in 
ﬁ ve said they could not afford it. Many narrowband users said 
that cost was an obstacle to getting broadband, whilst the lack 
of coverage is still an issue for 14% of them. Nearly all house-
holds have antivirus software on their PCs, and most people say 
they do not ﬁ nd spam e-mail and viruses a big problem.

A  recent  development  in  the  e-communications  market  is  the 
service package or ‘bundle’. Across Europe, these are available 
to  cover  almost  every  combination  of  mobile  and  ﬁ xed  tele-
phony, television and internet access.

E-communications household survey
European Commission, Brussels, 2006
English, 130 pp, free of charge 
Download: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/
ecomm/doc/info_centre/studies_ext_consult/
ecomm_household_study/eb_jul06_main_report_en.pdf

EU world’s biggest electronics importer-exporter

The  statistics  presented  in  this  edition  of  Statistics  in  focus  suggest  that  new  Member 
States are making progress as far as high-tech trade is concerned. They also show that the 
most traded product group is electronics and telecommunications. All in all, the EU-25 
remains the world’s leading importer and exporter of high-tech products, with Germany 
as leading Member State in absolute terms. The Union also has a larger electronics trade 
deﬁ cit than Japan or the United States.

Trade in high-tech products – good progress in 
high-tech trade by the new Member States
ISSN 1609-5995
European Commission, Eurostat, Brussels, 2006
English, French, German, 8 pp, free of charge
Download: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/
cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-NS-06-014/EN/
KS-NS-06-014-EN.PDF

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TECHNOLOGY

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

Playing the sustainable 

energy game

A new study shows what would 
happen if the Commission’s ‘in-
dicative  targets’  on  cutting  en-
ergy use and increasing the up-
take  of  renewable  energy  were 
achieved.  The  combined  effect 
would  be  impressive,  allowing 
Europe  to  meet  its  2010  Kyoto 
target  comfortably  and  reduc-
ing our dependence on import-
ed energy.

Keeping  human-induced  climate 
change to a bearable level is going 
to need all our resolve and creativity. As the scientiﬁ c consensus 
has  crystallised,  it  has  become  clear  that  no  single  approach 
will hold global carbon dioxide emissions constant for the next 
50 years, let alone reduce them, in the face of a growing world 
population  and  rising  standards  of  living  in  developing  coun-
tries. And global temperatures will continue to increase for hun-
dreds of years, even if CO2 emissions do not.

We can help to keep a lid on greenhouse gas emissions by mov-
ing from fossil fuels to renewable energy: wind, solar, biomass, 
hydro and geothermal. We can lock up CO2 by pumping emis-
sions into underground reservoirs. Above all, we need to con-
sume less energy. If we do all these things on a large enough 
scale, we can limit the future global average temperature rise to 
around 3°C, according to current estimates. Nevertheless, that 
is still enough to cause crop failure, water shortages and tropical 
storms for hundreds of millions of people.

Energy  policy  is  also  important  for  promoting  Europe’s  eco-
nomic competitiveness and reducing our dependence on im-
ported fossil fuels. The Commission has a range of policies to 
increase both energy efﬁ ciency and the use of renewables, as 
set  out  in  a  2006  Green  Paper(1).  The  current  study  looks  at 
what will happen if one or both of these policy branches play 
out as planned.

Efﬁ ciency gains

Improved energy efﬁ ciency could cut consumption by around 
20%,  the  authors  assert.  Important  contributors  are  energy-
 efﬁ cient buildings and electrical appliances, cogeneration (CHP) 
and air transport.

With this approach, total energy use in 2020 would be the same 
as in 2000, despite an estimated 53% increase in GDP. By 2030, 
consumption  would  have  fallen  to  its  1990  level.  Electricity 
 savings would mean that by 2030, we would use one-third less 
coal and nuclear energy, and 18% less primary energy overall, 
compared  to  the  baseline  case.  CO2  emissions  in  2010  would 
be the same as in 1990, the base year for the Kyoto Protocol, 

and by 2030 would be 16% below the 1990 level. Because Eur-
ope currently generates much of its electricity from nuclear and 
indigenous  coal,  improved  energy  efﬁ ciency  would  have  little 
effect on our dependence on energy imports.

Clean and green

The  ‘high  renewables’  case  takes  into  account  the  Commis-
sion’s renewable energy plan of 2004, the Biomass Action Plan 
of 2005, and other related measures. This route would scarcely 
change primary energy demand, but would alter the fuel mix 
signiﬁ cantly.

By 2010, renewables would provide 11.6% of primary energy 
(3.6 percentage points above the baseline levels). By 2030, the 
renewables  ﬁ gure  would  be  19.3%,  compared  to  a   baseline 
 value  of  10.4%.  The  increased  use  of  renewables  displaces  a 
large  amount  of  solid  fuel,  some  oil,  less  gas  and,  by  2030,  a 
large  amount  of  nuclear  capacity.  By  2030,  carbon  intensity 
(emissions  per  unit  of  GDP)  would  be  14%  below  its  baseline 
value. Energy import dependency would be 59%, compared to 
65% in the baseline case.

To  a  small  extent,  saving  energy  and  using  more  renewables 
can work against one another: electricity, for instance, is a prime 
candidate for both options. Overall, though, the combined ap-
proach  pays  big  dividends.  With  this  model  we  will  be  using 
less energy in 2030 than we did in 1990. Despite considerable 
economic growth, CO2 emissions remain below their 1990 level 
over the whole projection period (-7% in 2010, -21% in 2020 
and -29% in 2030), and import dependency is 58% by 2020, 
6 percentage points below the baseline level.

(1)  A European strategy for sustainable, competitive and secure energy 
(see page 15, Euroabstracts June 2006 or http://cordis.europa.eu/
aoi/article.cfm?article=1651&lang=EN) 

European energy and transport - scenarios on energy efﬁ ciency and 
renewables
ISBN 92-79-02652-6 
European Commission, Luxembourg, 2006
English, 122 pp, free of charge
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/energy_transport/ﬁ gures/scenarios/
doc/2006_scenarios_on_energy_efﬁ ciency.pdf  

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IN BRIEF

COMPETITIVENESS

INNOVATION TRENDS

Guide to effective procurement 
How  can  organisations  make  the  best  decisions  and  stimulate 
innovation as far as procurement is concerned? This publication 
provides managers involved in private and public procurement 
with  guidelines  on  the  fundamental  aspects  of  procurement 
design  and  management.  The  issues  raised  in  this  handbook 
include the management of procurement risk and the stimulation 
of  innovation  through  procurement.  Each  chapter  proposes 
practical  conclusions  and  addresses  problems  encountered  by 
real-life  managers.  To  each  question,  innovative  solutions  are 
proposed in the light of cutting-edge research.

New line in EU textile policy
The High Level Group for Textile and Clothing was founded by 
former Commissioners Erkki Liikanen and Pascal Lamy, in February 
2004, in anticipation of the upcoming abolition of import quotas. 
It  aims  to  recommend  initiatives  to  be  undertaken  at  regional, 
national and EU level to allow the sector to adjust and improve 
its competitiveness. This report provides recommendations in the 
following  sectors:  competitiveness  and  internal  regulatory  and 
market issues; education, training and employment; intellectual 
property rights; regional aspects; research and development; as 
well as innovation and trade policy.

Handbook of procurement
ISBN 97-80-5218707-33
Cambridge University Press, UK, 2006 
English, 560 pp, £65 (€97 approx)
Order: http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/
catalogue.asp?isbn=0521870739

The EU and India: a 21st century partnership
At  their  sixth  summit  in  September  2005,  the  EU  and  India 
adopted a long-term and wide-ranging joint action plan which 
sets  the  course  for  a  strategic  partnership.  This  publication 
describes  the  ﬁ ve  main  domains  covered  by  this  partnership 
strategy: strengthening dialogue and consultation mechanisms; 
political  dialogue  and  co-operation;  bringing  people  and 
cultures together; economic policy dialogue and co-operation; 
and developing trade and investment. It also provides readers 
with  a  useful  chronology  of  EU-India  relations.  Apart  from 
economic  and  trade  interaction,  the  importance  of  working 
together on development issues is also emphasised, as well as 
mutual cultural heritage and dialogue with civil society.

The European Union and India: a strategic partnership for the 21st century
European Commission, External Relations DG, Brussels, 2006 
English, 44 pp, free of charge
Download: http://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/
library/publications/25_india_brochure.pdf

Planting the seeds of understanding 
of venture capital decisions
Based on an analysis of numerous venture capital companies, this 
study  seeks  to  identify  the  factors  –  including  age,  timing  and 
location – which inﬂ uence venture capitalists when making seed 
capital investments. The paper seeks to examine seed investments 
and to identify the factors that explain why venture capital fund 
managers  make  the  investment  decisions  they  do.  It  ﬁ nds  that 
seed activity is a valuable source of information for venture capital 
ﬁ rms seeking to identify and invest in new technologies.

An examination of the determinants of the incidence and scale of seed 
capital investments by venture capital ﬁ rms, 1962-2002
School of Business and Economics, University of Exeter, 2006 
English, 53 pp, free of charge
Download: http://www.sobe.ex.ac.uk/respapers/Dimo&Murray_May06.pdf

ENVIRONMENT

Turning over a new leaf in European forests 
Forests are one of Europe’s most important renewable resources. 
Forests or woodland cover over a third of the EU-25’s territory. 
But forests are also very fragile environments, as shown by the 
growing number of ﬁ res, especially in the south of Europe. This 
publication presents the EU Forestry Strategy and various Union-
funded projects that help develop and protect European forests 
through  sustainable  forest  management.  The  publication  also 
features a series of case studies describing interesting initiatives 
and projects in  several Member States.

LIFE and European forests
ISBN 92-79-02255-5
European Commission, Brussels, 2006
English, 68 pp, free of charge
Download: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/
life/infoproducts/forests/forest_lr.pdf

European textiles and clothing in a quota-free environment
European Commission, Enterprise and Industry DG, Brussels, 2006
English, 42 pp, free of charge
Download: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/textile/documents/
hlg_report_18_09_06.pdf

TECHNOLOGY

Tracking the careers of scientists
Where do science and technology personnel work? This issue of 
Statistics in focus looks at the numbers of scientists and engineers 
working in science and technology. Unsurprisingly, the ﬁ gures 
suggest that scientists and engineers favour careers in services 
over the manufacturing sector (53.6 million against 9.4 million). 
They also show that high-tech and knowledge-intensive activities 
are  preferred  and  that  ﬁ ve  capital  regions  in  France,  Belgium, 
Spain, Finland and Germany are among the top 15 regions in 
terms of the  relative size of their S&T workforces.

High-tech industries and knowledge-based services – the importance of R&D 
and human resources in science and technology
ISSN 1609-5995
European Commission, Brussels, 2006
English, French, German, 8 pp, free of charge
Download: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/
KS-NS-06-013/EN/KS-NS-06-013-EN.PDF

A year in space
The European Space Agency’s 2005 annual report covers all the 
programmes and projects managed or supported by the Agency. 
ESA’s activities and facilities are described exhaustively by sector, 
including earth observation, telecommunications, launchers, and, 
of course, human space ﬂ ight. Financial and budget information 
is also provided, as well as a list of agreements and patents.

ESA annual report 2005
ISSN 0258-025X
European Space Agency, Paris, 2006
English, 134 pp, free of charge
Download: http://www.esa.int/esapub/ annuals/annual05/ESA_AR2005.pdf

KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY

Towards a golden age of employment
A  key  element  of  European  economic  and  social  policy  is  the 
raising of the employment rate by extending working life. The 
project  entitled  ‘Ageing  and  employment:  identiﬁ cation  of 
good practice to increase job opportunities and maintain older 
workers  in  employment’  (AEIGP)  was  designed  to  promote 
effective management practices and approaches across Europe. 
The examples provided throughout this publication are mainly 
workplace-oriented  and  provide  concrete  proof  that  age 
management can be successful.

Ageing and employment: identiﬁ cation of good practice to increase job 
opportunities and maintain older workers in employment – ﬁ nal report
European Commission, Brussels, 2006 
English, 228 pp, free of charge
Download: http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/news/2006/sept/
ageingreport_en.pdf

euroabstracts December 2006

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BOOKMARKS

FURTHER SURFING

Innovation on-line 

and on track

To ﬁ nd out more information about the Competitiveness and 
Innovation Framework Programme (CIP), go to: 
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/enterprise_policy/cip/index_en.htm 
or http://cordis.europa.eu/innovation/en/policy/cip.htm

Information on PRO INNO Europe is available at: 
http://cordis.europa.eu/innovation/en/policy/pro-inno.htm

Want to know all about the Seventh Framework Programme 
for Research (FP7)? Look no further than here: 
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/

To learn more about the EU’s cohesion and regional policies, 
visit the Regional Policies DG’s website at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index_en.htm 

To ﬁ nd out how the European Investment Fund is involved in 
EU ﬁ nancing, go to:
http://www.eif.europa.eu/index.asp

 HOW TO OBTAIN THE PUBLICATIONS WE REVIEW

Hard copy

The EU Bookshop http://bookshop.eu.int/ provides on-line 
access to publications published by the institutions, agencies 
and other bodies of the European Union. At the EU Bookshop, 
you can download publications as PDF ﬁ les or order them as 
hard copies, if available. 

European Union publications for which a cover price is listed can 
be bought through the worldwide network of 80 sales  ofﬁ ces 
of EUR-OP, the Ofﬁ ce for Ofﬁ cial Publications of the European 
Communities.  You  can  request  a  list  of  the  sales   network 
operators by faxing (352) 2929 42758. Other  publications can 
be bought through normal commercial channels.

There is a lot of information on EU innovation policy on the 
internet. Here are some interesting links to pursue.

The Lahti informal summit took place during the Finnish Presi-
dency. Find out more on Finnish innovation policies at: 
http://www.eu2006.ﬁ /en_GB/

Growth  and  Jobs  –  the  Commission’s  ﬂ agship  website  for  the 
relaunched Lisbon Strategy: 
http://ec.europa.eu/growthandjobs/index_en.htm

Or read the speciﬁ c subsite on the ‘uptake of ICT and innovation’: 
http://ec.europa.eu/growthandjobs/areas/ﬁ che06_en.htm

To ﬁ nd out more about EU ﬁ nancing for the next seven years, 
go to the ‘Investing in our future’ website at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/ﬁ nancial_perspective/index_en.htm

The Aho Report ‘Creating an Innovative Europe’: 
http://europa.eu.int/invest-in-research/research06.htm

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