Europese wetenschapsministers leggen de nadruk op innovatie als pijler competitief Europa (en)

On the second day meeting of the EU Competitiveness Council i on September 27, The EU research ministers focused on innovations as the core of the Europe’s competitiveness. The meeting was chaired by the Lithuanian Minister of Education and Science Dainius Pavalkis.

„It is very important to stress, that making progress toward the goals of the Innovation Union is crucial to our future. Ensuring that innovative ideas are turned into products and services which will create growth and jobs - would greatly further EU competitiveness“, said Minister Pavalkis.

EU research ministers discussed the current progress of the Innovation Union and the European Research Area, as well as the possibilities of its acceleration. Within this context, a new innovation indicator was introduced.

The Innovation Union is an investment for the EU future. Achieving the target of investing 3% of EU GDP in R&D by 2020, could create 3.7 million jobs and increase annual GDP by €795 billion by 2025.

The Council was also presented with the new generation of public and private partnerships - among them 4 public-public and 5 public-private - that will allow to carry out large-scale and long-term innovation activities under the umbrella of “Horizon 2020”, the EU's next research framework programme.

“I hope that the fruitful discussion we have had today, will allow us all to get one more step closer to the successful implementation of “Horizon 2020” and thus to creating open, growing and credible Europe, as the Lithuanian Presidency aspires to”, said the Lithuanian Minister of Education and Science.