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Research and innovation

Investing in research and innovation is increasingly crucial for shaping a better European future in a rapidly globalising world, where success depends ever more on the production and conversion of knowledge into innovation. However, Europe is experiencing an innovation deficit. It does not capitalise enough on the knowledge it has and produces. The EU’s substantial knowledge assets need to be more quickly and more intensively turned into innovations in the form of new products, processes, services and business models. Industry plays a fundamental role in this transformation. 

Europe’s chance to lead the next wave of innovation will depend on a range of factors. These framework conditions are manifold, from a more risk-taking culture to the regulatory environment or a skilled labour force. Funding, in particular through public spending, plays a pivotal role as well in shaping a pro-innovation ecosystem. In many cases, public investment is crucial to leverage the necessary funding for innovative projects. For decades, the European framework programmes have been contributing, together with national programmes, to scaling up European investments in research and innovation. The mobilisation of all these factors is crucial to reach the target of an overall 3% of gross domestic product invested in research and development.

 

Last updated: 18 June 2018