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News archive - EU Establishes Sub-Group of 'Innovation Commissioners'

The European Commission will formally establish a subgroup of at least eight EU commissioners with a stake in innovation policy this week. The committee, chaired by the EU's commissioner for research, innovation and science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn will work on a new research and innovation strategy due to be published in the autumn.

The Commission's innovation subgroup is expected to include Antonio Tajani (Industry and Entrepreneurship), Johannes Hahn (Regional Policy), László Andor (Employment), Neelie Kroes (Digital Agenda), Androulla Vassiliou (Education), Michel Barnier (Internal Market), and Günther Oettinger (Energy).

Geoghegan-Quinn said the group would not be a "talking shop", but would deliver concrete results. She also wants the group to feed into the debate on how to measure the effectiveness of EU spending on R&D. A team of Commission officials is currently working with economists and businesspeople to design a new "innovation indicator," which will be a feature of the Research & Innovation plan.

Geoghegan-Quinn: "Address all bottlenecks in innovation"

Speaking in the European Parliament last week (15 April) for the first time since her hearing in January, Geoghegan- Quinn said the innovation committee would work to remove barriers to innovation in Europe. "We are looking to address all the bottlenecks in innovation. We want to translate our excellent research into products that our companies can bring to market. Europe needs to remove barriers that get in the way of getting from research to retail," she said.

Informal "research family" of commissioners

Separately, Geoghegan-Quinn also wants to bring together a second group of commissioners interested in research which would also meet regularly, albeit on a less formal basis.This "research family" of commissioners will use the meetings to influence the EU research agenda, according to Geoghegan-Quinn. "Commissioners in areas like energy, environment and transport need direct access to DG Research to be able to commission the research that is necessary," she said.

Source: Euractive website, as accessed on April 21, 2010.
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  • European Union (EU 27)
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Entry created by Katarina Rohsmann on April 21, 2010
Modified on April 21, 2010