The European Commission has launched a Call for Ideas for a European Innovation Council to support Europe's most promising innovators. Positive steps have been taken in recent years to integrate an innovation component into EU programmes and policies, in particular Horizon 2020. However, the array of support mechanisms can be difficult to navigate, and lacks the flexibility and responsiveness that disruptive innovation requires.
Commissioner Moedas launched the Call for Ideas at the Science|Business Annual Conference in Brussels. He said that "Europe has excellent science, but we lack disruptive market-creating innovation. This is what is needed to turn our best ideas into new jobs, businesses and opportunities." While the number of start-ups created in Europe is on a par with competitors such as the United States, Europe lags behind in disruptive innovation and in scaling startups into world-beating businesses. A European Innovation Council could contribute to solving this problem. The deadline for responses is 29 April 2016.
It is important that the design of the European Innovation Council is based on the best possible ideas and evidence from all interested parties (notably business, entrepreneurs, academia, national and regional authorities, representative bodies). The Commission is therefore seeking the views of stakeholders, including via this online Call for Ideas. An analysis of the responses will be published by June 2016 and feed into any possible proposals that the Commission will discuss with Member States and the European Parliament.
The Call for Ideas involves a small number of questions; you can complete the survey here. You can also upload a position paper to the website of the European Commission.
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