1. Future developments and planning for the Europe INNOVA initiative ( ) Presentation outline: - Europe INNOVA ongoing activities - INNOVA future activities Henriette van Eijl DG Enterprise and Industry Brussels, 04 June 2007
The Europe INNOVA initiative exists since the beginning of The initiative is build on experiences from a previous innovation policy initiative Gate2Growth.
The initiative has two aims:
To give input for better innovation policies in Europe
To provide tools and services for innovating companies
Let’s start with some figures: currently, Europe INNOVA consist of
- 30 projects covering 10 industrial sectors
- 80 independent experts meeting each other in sectoral innovation panels
- More than 300 partners covering all Members States.
These figures illustrate that Europe INNOVA is more than an innovation policy initiative.
The initiative provides us at with a European wide sounding board for innovation and innovation policy matters in which all major innovation stakeholders are represented.
Europe INNOVA is our first innovation policy initiative which has the real potential to build-up a European innovation community.

2. Innovation Management – IMP³rove
Europe INNOVA networks bring together innovation practitioners to identify and address barriers to innovation in specific domains (e.g. access to finance, cluster management & standards). Current Activities:
Cluster Networks
Innovation Watch
Innovation Panels
Financing Networks
Cluster Mapping
Standards Networks
Currently Europe INNOVA is based on 8 building blocks combining sector analysis and grass roots experience in different industries.
But how do these building blocks work together to improve sector innovation in Europe?
The Sector Innovation Watch and the Cluster Mapping Study have already generated a huge amount of relevant data.
The Innovation Watch identifies and analyses statistical information on innovation patterns across 8 selected sectors
aerospace, automotive, biotechnology, ICT, textile, energy, eco-innovation and gazelles (High Growth companies).
The cluster mapping study maps regional clusters across the EU-25 and beyond.
Based on the results of this study we aim to establish a European cluster observatory which will continuously monitor clusters, their dynamics and evolution over time.
Analyses carried out under Europe INNOVA are validated on a regular basis by sector innovation panels, populated with innovation experts in the specific sectors. There are 6 sector panels: Aerospace, automotive, biotechnology, energy, ICT and textile and 2 horizontal ones are focussing on gazelles (high-growth companies) and eco-innovation.
The results of these activities are important to feed the core of Europe INNOVA – its combined total of 27 sectoral networks in the field of clusters, financing and standards. It’s clear that these networks have each their specific field of activity but in the end they all strive for the same: networking different innovation actors to improve sectoral innovation.
IMPROVE analyses the innovation management support mechanisms available on the market looking at what works and what doesn’t work.
At the same time IMP³rove supports the market with offering better tools, such as a self assessment tool for innovation management, to SMEs, consultants, financial intermediaries and policy makers. In the end the project is about making innovation more efficient and effective and supporting the process of innovation management in becoming a profession.
Europe INNOVA Communications, the last building block, is our voice for the outside world and amongst all those involved in the initiative. It is the central portal.
The Europe INNOVA website contains reports of the Europe INNOVA projects, background information and announcements of events. You are highly encouraged to visit this site!
So, with Europe INNOVA we analyse and map innovation in different sectors, we bring together the stakeholders to identify sector opportunities and barriers for innovation and we facilitate networking among the different actors.
Europe INNOVA activities are an excellent testing ground for policies, tools and methodologies that support innovation, that support entrepreneurship.
Innovation Management – IMP³rove
Europe INNOVA Communications
Website:

3. Europe INNOVA future activities: + 4 themes and horizontal activities
Services
Innovation
Watch
Innovation
Panels
Lead Markets
Horizontal and exploratory actions
Greening Industries
Cluster Mapping
Building on the success of past and current projects, DG Enterprise now presents its plans for future Europe INNOVA activities.
Support for Activities of the Innovation Watch, Cluster Mapping and Innovation Panels and Communications is likely to be continued in the future.
In the next phase of the Europe INNOVA initiative, we intend to group capabilities and skills under 4 themes and 1 horizontal line.
Significantly, we will support activities in a number of themes: services, lead markets, greening of industries and cluster cooperation. We also intend to support horizontal and exploratory actions.
Compared to the ongoing and past INNOVA projects, we would like projects to group activities in the field of cluster networks, financing networks and standards networks per theme.
This will mobilise relevant expertise to deal with innovation policy and activities in a specific sector.
Definition of priorities: these are linked to policy initiatives by the EC and the EU.
Promotion of knowledge-intensive services:
Commission Staff Working Document
« Towards a European strategy in support of innovation in services: Challenges and key issues for future actions » about Mr Buescher talked in the previous presentation and the Communication on Innovation in 2006.
2. Facilitation of lead markets
The EC is currently developing a lead markets initiative, in which we have 6 candidate markets.
Sustainable construction
Bio-based products
Recycling
e-Health
Intelligent textiles
Nano-diagnostics
The final decision on the choice of markets for which we are going to pilot the lead market concept is expected in March 2008, so we anticipate to fund a number of follow-up activities under the Europe INNOVA Umbrella.
3. Greening of industrial sectors
This reflects a number of recommendations that came from the Communication on Greening Industrial Policies
4. Support to trans-national cluster cooperation
This reflects the recommendations made in the European Cluster Memorandum
Please note: Activities in the field of knowledge intensive Services may not only find a home and many opportunities in the Services theme, but also under other themes, such as greening industries and lead markets. So, I would like to encourage you to think ‘outside the services’ box!
Cluster Cooperation
Europe INNOVA Communications

4. Forthcoming policy priorities for Europe INNOVA:
Projects should meet 3 requirements:
Follow a more results-oriented approach, in support of Community policies
Base networks on public private partnerships, with an “exit strategy”
Fall within the scope of the 4 thematic priorities and the horizontal activities
Apart from the requirement that projects should be in scope of the 4 themes and 1 horizontal theme, there are two other requirements;
A more results-oriented approach should be followed, which is in support of Community policies
And secondly, consortia should be public-private partnerships. An exit strategy should also be developed at the proposal stage.
The first and second requirements will be discussed in-depth by Elke van Tenderloo, but I explain the rationale behind these now.
We envisage that INNOVA projects of the next phase will change the type of input for innovationpolicy and provide new forms of support to innovative SMEs and startups.
This requires public-private partnerships, and making a plan what should be done with the results of each project, particularly how it could be used by other organisations.
So, what is the planning of the calls?

5. Europe INNOVA Planned calls:
2007
KNOWLEDGE-INTENSIVE SERVICES
5 mEuro
3 years
LEAD MARKETS
mEuro
3 years
GREENING INDUSTRIES
mEuro
3 years
Total:
mEuro
CLUSTER COOPERATION
mEuro
3 years
Today’s meeting is timely, because the KIS call has just been published.
This is the first call of the second phase of Europe Innova. So, it can be seen as a pilot.
This implies that if the pilot is successful, which I personally very much hope, then next year, another call in the field of knowledge-intensive services may be staged, possibly in with calls of the other themes.
So, with this slide, I conclude and I hand over to Elke van Tenderloo, who will discuss the set-up of the call and the application procedure.
I welcome any questions and wish you success!
KNOWLEDGE-INTENSIVE SERVICES
Possibility of a follow-up call