CELEX: 51988PC0426
Language: en
Date: 1988-07-20
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION CONCERNING THE IMPLEMENTATION AT COMMUNITY LEVEL OF THE MAIN PHASE OF THE STRATEGIC PROGRAMME FOR INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER ( SPRINT ) ( 1989-1993 )

15. 10. 88                           Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 268/3
                                                             II
                                                     (Preparatory Acts)
                                                COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Decision concerning the implementation at Community level of the main
              phase of the strategic programme for innovation and technology transfer (Sprint) (1989 to
                                                            1993)
                                                    COM(88) 426 final
                                     (Submitted by the Commission on 26 July 1988)
                                                       (88/C 268/04)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                          innovation and technology transfer, particularly with a
                                                                  view to achieving the internal market by the end of 1992;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community, and in particular Article 235                 Whereas it is essential for the future of the Community
thereof,                                                          to adopt appropriate measures to stimulate the innovative
                                                                  capacity of companies and to promote rapid application
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                of new technologies as soon as they become available;
Having regard        to the  opinion   of   the  European         Whereas many recent technologies have yet to achieve
Parliament,                                                       their full potential diffusion in certain traditional
                                                                  industrial sectors or in certain regions of lagging devel-
                                                                  opment or industrial decline, and whereas their rapid
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                  adoption could permit these sectors and regions to make
Social Committee,                                                 up some of the leeway, thus strengthening not only the
                                                                  competitive position of the Community but also its
                                                                  economic and social cohesion;
Whereas, pursuant to Article 2 of the Treaty, one of the
major responsibilities of the Community is to ensure the
harmonious development of the economy, together with              Whereas the Member States have developed specialized
continued and balanced growth throughout the                      services for the support of innovation, technology
Community, and whereas, pursuant to Article 130A of               transfer and consultancy in innovation management,
the Treaty, it is required to achieve such harmonious             financing and industrial cooperation, and whereas these
development of the entire Community by developing and             infrastructures have a significant multiplier effect in
pursuing actions leading to the strengthening of the              promoting innovation and technological development in
Community's economic and social cohesion;                         companies, especially smaller ones, while the institution
                                                                  of transnational liaison, cooperation, training and
                                                                  transfer mechanisms optimize these national schemes;
Whereas, under the terms of Article 130F of the Treaty,
the Community has as an objective the reinforcement of
the scientific and technological bases of European
industry and the encouragement of the development of              Whereas the Community itself, in complement to the
its international competitivity, and whereas the                  actions of the Member States, has also undertaken
attainment of this objective involves, in particular, a           initiatives to support innovation and technology transfer,
determined effort to promote innovation and technology            as important elements in the implementation of other
transfer;                                                         Community policies.
Whereas the strategic Community programme for inno-               Whereas it is appropriate to maximize these initiatives in
vation and technology transfer — Sprint 1983 to 1989              order to reinforce their effectiveness and coherence;
— (') has demonstrated the need for, and added value to
be derived from, an ambitious Community policy for
                                                                  Whereas in view of the importance of technology
 O OJ No L 353, 15. 12. 1983, p. 12 and OJ No L 153,              transfer and innovation for SMEs it is appropriate to
     13.6. 1987, p. 45.                                            coordinate the actions in this area with the policy in
 ---pagebreak--- No C 268/4                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                15. 10. 88
favour of SME's developed by the Commission within                                           Article 3
the framework of its action programme ( l );
                                                                   With a view to achieving the aims set out in Article 2,
                                                                   the following actions will be undertaken, taking careful
Whereas it is essential to have access to instruments              account of initiatives already underway, as provided for
providing a better understanding of the innovation and             in Article 5:
technology transfer process, in order to identify more
clearly the obstacles to be encountered and to evaluate
the impact of instruments and policies;                            — strengthening of the innovation services infrastructure
                                                                        in Europe by the formation or the consolidation of
                                                                        transnational networks, particularly building upon
Whereas reciprocal information flows, the exchange of                   existing organizations in the regions,
experience and concertation between the Member States
and the Commission with regard to innovation policies
are essential to enhance their own effectiveness and the           — supporting intra-Community pilot projects for infor-
cohesion of the entire Community;                                       mation transfer where these are of value to the
                                                                        Community as a whole,
Whereas there is a need to improve access to techno-
logies, capital and markets in order to stimulate inno-            — improving the innovation environment by a better
                                                                        understanding of the processes involved and
vation;
                                                                        increased concertation between the Member States
                                                                        and the Commission.
Whereas Community action appears necessary in these
fields and whereas the Treaty makes no provision for
corresponding powers of action,                                    These actions are described in detail in Annex I.
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:                                                                      Article 4
                                                                   The Community's contribution to the activities set out in
                          Article 1                                Article 3 is estimated at 130 million ECU over the
                                                                   lifespan of the programme.
The main phase of the strategic programme for the
promotion of innovation and technology transfer, here-
inafter referred to as the 'Sprint programme' (strategic           A significant part of this amount will be employed, as a
programme for innovation and technology transfer), is              priority, to the benefit of regions of lagging development
hereby adopted for a period of five years from 1 January            or industrial decline.
 1989.
                                                                   Annex II provides an indicative breakdown of expen-
                          Article 2                                 diture for the various actions set out in Article 3.
The aims of the proposed programme are as follows:
                                                                                              Article 5
 1. to strengthen the innovative capacity of European
     producers of goods and services, in view of the 1992           1.     The Commission is responsible for implementing
     single market;                                                 the Sprint programme.
 2. to promote rapid penetration of new technologies
     throughout the economic fabric of the Community,               2.     The Commission is assisted by a committee, known
     particularly in those regions and industrial sectors           as the 'Innovation Committee', comprising represen-
     where they are as yet not fully integrated, thus streng-       tatives of the Member States and chaired by the
     thening, in close liaison with other policies,                 Commission's representative.
     instruments and bodies promoted by the Community,
     its economic and social cohesion in the field of inno-         The Commission's representative submits to the
     vation and technology transfer;                                committee a proposal on measures to be taken. The
                                                                    deadline by which the committee must give its opinion
 3. to enhance the effectiveness and coherence of existing          on this proposal is set by the chairman in the light of the
     instruments and policies, whether regional, national           urgency of the issue. The opinion is adopted by the
     or Community, in the field of innovation and tech-             majority laid down in Article 148 (2) of the Treaty
     nology transfer.                                               concerning the adoption of Decisions by the Council on
                                                                    a proposal from the Commission. For the purposes of
                                                                    voting within the committee, the votes of the national
                                                                    representatives will be weighted in accordance with the
 (') COM(86) 445 final.                                              above Article. The chairman has no vote.
 ---pagebreak--- 15. 10. 88                             Official Journal of the European Communities                            No C 268/5
The Commission adopts measures with immediate effect.             4. The Commission's contractors will, as a general
Nevertheless, if these are not in accordance with the             rule, bear the major share of financing, and at least
committee's opinion, these measures are immediately               50 % of total costs. In exceptional cases, and after an
communicated to the Council by the Commission. In this            opinion by the Innovation Committee, a contribution in
case, the Commission may defer application of the                 excess of this percentage shall not be excluded, in
measure it has promulgated for a maximum of one                   particular for the purposes of taking account of the
month from the date of this communication.                        specific difficulties encountered by regions of lagging
                                                                  development or industrial decline in participating in
The Council, acting by a qualified majority, may reach            transnational activities.
an alternative decision within the period set out in the
above paragraph.
                                                                                            Article 7
3. With respect to the implementation of the plan of              In accordance with a procedure to be drawn up by the
action outlined in Article 3, the Commission will consult         Commission, and after an opinion by the Innovation
the committee in particular with regard to:                       Committee, the Member States and the Commission
— priorities of the above plan of action,                         shall conduct regular exchanges of all useful information
                                                                  with a bearing on the aims of the programme referred to
— evaluation of projects,                                         in this Decision.
— evaluation of the programme for the purposes of
     preparing the report called for under Article 8.                                       Article 8
4. The Commission will ensure close liaison between               During the third year of the programme's operation, the
the Sprint programme and other related or                         Commission will draw up a report assessing the results
complementary Community initiatives, in course or in              achieved and, after an opinion by the Innovation
preparation.                                                      Committee, submit it to the Council, the European
                                                                  Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee.
                          Article 6                               This report may be accompanied by proposals for
                                                                  modifying the programme, should these appear necessary
1. The financial contribution of the Community will               in the light of the results.
be adapted to the characteristics of the specific case. It
may take the form of a direct or indirect subsidy, an             On completion of the programme, and after an opinion
advance on own capital, a contribution to a guarantee             by the Innovation Committee, the Commission will
arrangement or any other appropriate form. This contri-           submit to the Council, the European Parliament and the
bution, as a percentage of total costs, shall be the lower        Economic and Social Committee a report on the
the greater the proximity of the action or project to the         programme's implementation and results.
market.
                                                                                            Article 9
2. The Commission will, in general, implement the
Sprint programme by way of calls for proposals.                   The Commission will exploit the most appropriate means
                                                                  of disseminating throughout the Community the results
3. In implementing the programme, the Commission                  of the action taken in accordance with the present
will also make use of the instruments and bodies                  Decision.
promoted within the framework of other Community
policies, in particular regional policy, in order to                                        Article 10
 reinforce the efficiency of the programme and overall
coherence.                                                        This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
 ---pagebreak--- ^OO^BD                                            COffici^ljourn^ofr^Euror^^nClornrnunin^                                          1^ ^ ^
       ^^tAT^^tC^O^^tA^^^^^^^OV^T^O^
                                                         A^^A^nn^t^^o^^^^c^o^
       T h e a i m s o f theprogrammeareasfollows^
       t. to strengthenthe innovative capacity of European producers of goodsand services w i t h a v i e w t o t h e
           t ^ 2 single markets
       2. t o p r o m o t e r a p i d p e n e t r a t i o n o f new technologies throughout the economic fabric of theCommunity,
           particularly in those regions and industrial sectors where they are as yet not fully integrated, thus
           strengthening, in close liaison with other policies, instruments and bodies promoted hy the Community,
           its economic and social cohesion in the field of innovation and technology transfers
       ^. to enhance the effectiveness and coherence of existing instruments and policies, whether regional,
           national or Community,in the field of innovation.
       The proposed actions, comprising threepriority lines of action, will make the most of the Community
       dimension and optimize national efforts in the field of innovation and technology transfer, thus
       accelerating the technologicaldevelopment of European industry.
       A     5T^^CBfr^^L^^
            8^T^^TA8M5^^^TC0^L^T^
            ^particular, this involves^
            t. The strengthening of intra^Community networks for innovations
                 ^    consolidation and development of existing networks, particularly involvings
                      — technology and innovation management consultants,
                      — sectoral collective research centres,
                     — innovation financing institutions^
                 d^ formation of new networks, particularly between^
                      — contractresearch organizations,
                     — engineering consultants,
                      — duality and valueanalysis specialists,etc.^
                 ^    strengthening intraCommunity communication between^
                     — researchBindustry and universityBindustry interface,
                      — technopoles and science parks^
                 ^    implementationof linkage mechanisms betweenthe various innovation andtechnology transfer
                      networks.
            2. network support measures^
                 ^    ^ o ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ r ^ ^ r ^ ^ , ^^^r^^^^ ^ r o ^ ^ r ^             ^^  ^    rr^^^r ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^     in innovation
                      management and related measures^
                      — transnational exchanges of experience, in particular through support for studies, specialist
                           seminars and the formation of networks of experts in relevant management disciplines
                           duality, value analysis, marketing etc.^,
                      — diffusion of these management techniques by appropriate promotional activities ^conferences,
                           exhibitions, European prizesgsuccess stories^, etc.^,
                      — actions of information,awareness and the transfer of know^how,ofatransnational character
                           or purpose, for actors involved in the diffusion and transfer of technology and in innovation
                           management — these actions to be developed in close liaison with the Comett programmed
 ---pagebreak--- 15. 10. 88                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                      No C 268/7
                  (b) Specific instruments to enhance the effectiveness of networks, involving particularly:
                       — bringing together future network participants (for example by means of visits and professional
                           exchanges, introductory seminars, etc.),
                       — exchanges of technology opportunities, especially through measures aimed at:
                           — enhancing the transnational impact of technology exhibitions and fairs (cooperation
                               between organizers in different regions, visits by manufacturers from other regions, etc.),
                           — developing means of communicating these technology opportunities and appropriate use
                               thereof (catalogues, exhibitions, exchanges, data banks, conferences and seminars, video
                               conferences, etc.),
                       — identifying 'bestpractice'with respect to technology transfer,
                       — specific measures to ensure that those regions of the Community with a less-well-developed
                           service infrastructure for innovation can participate more fully in the various intra-
                           Community networks;
                  (c) The launching of innovations emerging from networks by improving the dialogue between
                       sources of funding technical experts and innovators identified by the networks (for example,
                       through a data bank of projects, intra-Community 'investment fora' and 'brokerage meetings').
           B. SUPPORTING PILOT PROJECTS FOR INTRA-COMMUNITY INNOVATION TRANSFER,
              PARTICULARLY BY MEANS OF:
              — support for pilot projects of transnational character, emphasizing industrial cooperation and, in
                  particular, involving the application of generic technologies to target industrial sectors in regions of
                   lagging development or industrial decline of the Community,
              — accompanying measures to heighten awareness of these technologies and to train companies
                   adopting them, emphasizing the transnational dimension,
              — the provision of technical support for companies potentially able to use these technologies, in
                  particular by employing specialized technology transfer networks and advanced-technology centres,
              — support for the effective execution of projects, particularly by mobilizing available funding from the
                  public and private sectors.
              Twin approaches can be followed:
              — one of these identifies available technologies with a cost-benefit ratio suiting them for widespread
                   adoption by companies in regions of lagging development or industrial decline, and is therefore
                   designed to promote the use of these technologies in the sectors concerned,
              — the other is based on identifying a problem, for which a solution can be found, common to a group
                   of companies in a given industrial sector or region. It encourages the identification and possible
                   adaptation of available technologies to deal with the problem.
              The planned projects must be on a large enough scale to act as a catalyst in the development of the
              industrial sectors and the use of the technologies concerned. They must also meet, wholly or in part, the
              following criteria:
              — be model projects in as much as they employ a 'systemic' overall approach to the introduction of
                   technological change, not only in purely technical terms but also with regard to such aspects as
                   company organization, the training and motivation of personnel and the use of such management
                   methods as value analysis, industrial design and the assessment of market potential,
              — provide an optimum combination of skills through transnational (between several Member States of
                   the Community) and, wherever possible, transfunctional (between partners of differing specialist
                   skills) cooperation,
              — involve industrial sectors or technologies chosen to guarantee a significant economic impact,
              — make an active contribution to reducing regional disparities in the availability of — and access to —
                   technologies,
 ---pagebreak--- No C 268/8                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                    15. 10. 88
              — be based as far as possible on existing infrastructures and enhance the use made of these,
              — include follow-up and evaluation provisions, based in particular on stated and readily verifiable
                   quantitative aims,
              — ensured feedback of the experience gained, preferably directly by the companies benefiting from the
                   scheme, in order to maximize the multiplier effect.
           C. IMPROVING THE INNOVATION ENVIRONMENT THROUGH A BETTER UNDER-
              STANDING OF THE PROCESSES INVOLVED AND INCREASED CONCERTATION
              BETWEEN THE MEMBER STATES AND THE COMMISSION
              1. Monitoring of innovation in Europe (European innovation monitoring system) and evaluation of
                  support measures;
              2. Strengthening concertation and the exchange of experience between the Member States and the
                  Commission in the field of innovation policy and technology transfer, in particular with the aim of
                  establishing a regulatory, legal, economic and fiscal environment favourable to innovation and tech-
                  nology transfer.
                                                             ANNEX II
                              INDICATIVE INTERNAL BREAKDOWN OF APPROPRIATIONS
           A. EUROPEAN INNOVATION SERVICES INFRASTRUCTURE
                                                                                                        (Millions of ECU)
              1. Strengthening networks:                                                                               50
                  (a) networks of innovation and technology transfer consultants                               15
                  (b) networks of sectoral collective research centres                                         15
                  (c) new networks (contract-research organizations/research or university-industry
                      interfaces/engineering consultants/technopoles/financing bodies; etc.)                   15
                  (d) linkage of innovation and technology transfer networks                                    5
              2. Accompanying measures:                                                                                20
                  (a) transnational training in innovation management, networks of experts (design,
                      quality, value analysis, marketing of new products, etc.), and associated promo-
                      tional activities (conferences, European prizes, publications, exhibitions)              12
                  (b) instruments for the support of networks (technology fairs, instruments for oppor-
                      tunity exchanges, etc.)                                                                   5
                  (c) launching innovations emerging from the networks ('investment fora', 'brokerage
                      meetings').                                                                               3
           B. PILOT PROJECTS FOR INTRA-COMMUNITY INNOVATION TRANSFER                                                   50
           C. MONITORING INNOVATION AND CONCERTATION                                   BETWEEN      THE
              MEMBER STATES AND THE COMMISSION                                                                         10
               1. 'European innovation monitoring system'                                                       5
              2. Concertation and exchanges of experience                                                       5
                                                                                                  Total               130
 ---pagebreak--- 15. 10. 88                                Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s               N o C 268/9
                                                                  ANNEX       III
                                        RESULTS OF T H E FIRST SPRINT PROGRAMME
           Sprint (strategic programme for innovation and technology transfer) — and its predecessor, the plan for
           the transnational development of the supporting infrastructure for innovation and technology transfer —
           served to pilot various approaches and mechanisms, separate from and complementary to the Community's
           RTD efforts, and of varying type and scale, promising to advance innovation and technology transfer
           across the Community. The following is a short list of the principal approaches and mechanisms thus
           tested.
           1. Transnational networks of specialized intermediaries, set up to encourage technology cooperation between
              firms, in particular SMEs, by helping select, motivate and guide companies seeking partners elsewhere in
               Europe.
               Over the four years during which Sprint and the transnational plan have been operational, about 250
               intermediaries — chambers of commerce, management consultants, university technology transfer
               departments, regional development agencies, technology brokers, etc. — have participated in Sprint-
               supported micro-networks. A network typically involves between three and five partners from as many
               different regions of the Community. Each network is required to achieve a set target number of veri-
               fiable technology agreements between firms during each period (typically 12 months) of Sprint support.
              The set of networks has been systematically developed over time: new networks have been created and
               new partners grafted on to existing networks; at the same time, support has been withdrawn from or not
               renewed for those intermediaries and networks which have failed to achieve adequate performance. The
               net result today is a hard core of around 150 organizations working in some 50 networks currently in
               receipt of Sprint support.
               At the last count (in January, 1988), the Sprint networks had achieved in less than three years of
               operation 120 verifiable transnational technology deals between firms. Comparison with a similar survey
               undertaken nine months previously shows a steeply rising trend, because many of the networks are of
               still recent creation. Sprint experience is that an effective network begins to generate four to five trans-
               national technology deals per year once it is well run in, roughly towards the end of its second year.
               Sprint support is thus phased out in or from the third year, once a network has established itself; most
               networks continue to function after this time and to generate further technology agreements between
               firms. In other words, Sprint assistance takes the form of seed finance to help intermediaries establish
               permanent transnational cooperation in support of firms in different Community countries working
               together in innovation and technology transfer.
               This continuing cooperation between intermediaries has been reinforced by a variety of measures aimed
               at animating the networks, encouraging staff exchanges and regional meetings of intermediaries, and
               providing training for those new to the innovation support profession, especially from the Community's
               industrializing regions.
           2. Transnational networks of industrial research associations/centres techniques industriels. The aim of this
               pilot action was to jointly pool and exploit the technical expertise of such centres, and their privileged
               relations with the firms in their respective sectors, in order to encourage the rapid dissemination of
               available new technologies to those firms. Particular but not exclusive emphasis has been given to tradi-
               tional sectors of European industry.
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 268/10                              Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s               15. 10. 88
                Roughly 20 projects/networks have received Sprint support, and over a fifth of the Community's
                industrial research associations have thus been brought into the programme. They have, for example,
                helped diffuse CAD-CAM technologies in the shoe industry, improve training and quality control in
                welding techniques, and raise productivity in the wood-processing industries by promoting the use of
                kiln-drying technology.
               A related set of projects have taken a systematic approach to the innovation requirements in the tradi-
                tional sectors of shoe manufacture, textiles and white ceramics. Specially constituted European working
                groups of experts, in close liaison with industry, have identified key specific technology deficits in each
                sector and then piloted various actions (e.g. European diffusion seminars for firms, technology guides in
               printed and audio-visual form, registers of European experts) to explore common ways of jointly
               tackling those deficits.
            3. Conferences and seminars on a European scale, aimed at disseminating scientific and technical information
               and at providing training in innovation management and technology transfer techniques. Over 70 such
               events in all parts of the Community have received partial Sprint support.
           4. hone (comparative index of European norms) was launched under the Sprint programme to test the effec-
               tiveness of a database of equivalences between existing national and international technical norms and
               standards as a means of facilitating access to other Community markets. The pilot phase of Icone
               succeeded in encompassing 35 % of existing national norms and standards, namely those that have a
               European or international equivalent. A survey of more than 1 000 firms in the Member States revealed
               considerable industrial support for the scheme, which has now entered a definition phase prior to its
               expansion to cover the totality of relevant industrial norms and standards in the Community.
           5. Concertation between the Member States in selected areas of innovation and technology transfer policy
               has allowed a valuable exchange of experience between them and encouraged a convergence of
               thinking.
               One result has been to launch with the Member States a Sprint pilot scheme to promote the importance
               of design as a factor in the industrial innovation process. Another has been to initiate wide-ranging
               discussions on issues of intellectual and industrial property rights, including a highly valued set of
               empirical studies on the costs of intellectual property protection and litigation in the Member States.
               Sprint has similarly launched much needed European study groups and surveys on contract-research
               services, training supply and demand in innovation management and technology transfer, and the role
               of local/regional governments and science parks/technopoles in the innovation process.
           The Sprint programme, in whole or in part, at mid-term and more recently, has been evaluated by several
           sets of independent experts. In addition, the Commission has undertaken its own periodic internal evalu-
           ations of all or part of the programme. These various assessments have consistently confirmed Sprint's
           underlying objectives and operational priorities. They have also allowed the programme's management to
           reorientate activities in the light of experience. Thus some actions could be abandoned in good time,
           because it became clear that their costs outweighed their benefits. Similarly, others could be discontinued
           during the course of the programme, because they had fully achieved their objectives.
           For example, monitoring showed that the Netto project linking technology transfer organizations via
          telefax had fulfilled its goals within less than two years, so that Sprint support could be terminated rela-
          tively quickly and the programme's sparse resources put to other use. Similarly, evaluation showed that
          support granted to EVCA — the European Venture Capital Association — had effectively helped structure
          and develop the venture capital profession in Europe and that, as the association would become self-
          supporting in 1987, again an early Sprint exit could be implemented.
 ---pagebreak--- 15. 10. 88                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                  No C 268/11
           A common thread running through the conclusions of all of the Sprint evaluation exercises is the insistence
           that the programme's resources were inadequate to meet the needs of a necessary and significant
           Community initiative to support innovation and technology transfer on a European level. It is evident that
           the overall impact of Sprint has been severely limited by lack of funding; certain of its pilot actions had
           difficulty achieving the critical mass necessary for a proper assessment of their effectiveness, and several
           well-founded projects could not be selected for lack of resources.
           Nonetheless, during this initial trial period of over four years, it has proved possible to:
           — determine the need for and establish the operational requirements for ensuring the success of a
               Community policy to support innovation and technology transfer,
           — pilot and evaluate a variety of approaches and mechanisms suited to such a policy,
           — mobilize the various publics and partners implicated in the implementation of such a policy,
           — establish the need for coordination of the various Community initiatives related to such a policy and for
               further concertation between the Member States and the Commission in this field,
           — identify the need for a programme both more focused in its objectives and more substantial in its
               resources.