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Opening Speech of 2 July 2010 – European Economic and Social Committee

Conference "Innovation and Enterprise: The role of socio-economic players"

In a recent interview with the French daily newspaper, Le Monde, the Nobel prize-winner for Economics, Edmund Phelps,said that if banks went back to funding innovation, industry would bounce back by itself.He also expressed regret at the fact that western economies were not sufficiently innovative.

The European Union had already come to this conclusion in 2006 with the publication of the Dosi report on the European innovation paradox, which even then was emphasising how little the European economies were investing in innovation.

I am therefore particularly pleased to mark thebeginningof the Belgian Presidency of the European Union with a conference on innovation, especially in the company of the Belgian and European social partners.

Entrepreneurship in particular and economic success in generalinevitably require creativity and innovation.

Developing these qualities is the most obvious way of finding one's place in a global, open and constantly evolving economy.

We now realise that globalisation can no longer be considered merelyin geographic terms and that its real driving force is temporal, since it is all about seizing the moment.

Similarly, we also now know that innovation is less about invention or discovery than about turning opportunities into new ideas and turning change itself into an opportunity. In this respect, we need to break with the purely R&D concept of innovation.

The laboratory is undoubtedly an important place, but innovation should no longer be restricted to its confines. Henceforth,entire businesses and perhaps even society as a wholemust be considered as a laboratory. That is whyfocusing our innovation policies on creativecompanies is of fundamental importance. This is the ideaunderlying the Creative Wallonia programme which hopes to involve as many people as possible in an innovative approach based principally on cross-disciplinary training, monitoring trends, gaining access for SMEs to the market in ideas and makingfresh funding available.

As you know, I will be chairing the industry section of the Competitiveness Council. Implementing a new industrial policy and a European innovation plan will be this Presidency's main concern. As part of the strategy for emerging from the crisis, these two factors should help our economies get back on their feet.

The work undertaken jointly on innovation by the four Belgian advisory committees responsible for the economy has therefore come at just the right time. In fact, these committees have been working together for several years on a project which has culminated inter alia in today's conference. Their views and their recommendations set out in the course of today will feed into discussions at European level. We will examine them again in ten days' time at the informal meeting of European Union Industry Ministers to be held inLouvain-la-Neuve on the subject of the Union's industrial policy and innovation.

In my view, innovation is a matter of both economic AND social importance.It is what underpins the competitiveness of our businesses and is also the main lever for transforming our economies and industries. But it must also addresssociety's new challenges,including climate change and demographic changes.

As I have already said, our concept of innovation is very broad. Indeed, it is not simply a question of putting the results of research into practice, even though this is an important element. Moreover, it is an issue that will be dealt with at a joint meeting of the Ministers of Industry and Research on 15 July.

The topics they will be discussing seem to me to be of the utmost importance and will include the external dimension of competitiveness and, above all,consideration of sustainability criteria in production methods and consumption patterns, which can only translate into a major competitive edge for European industry on the international stage.

As I have already said, innovation can be somethingnon-technological. It can be the result of observing society's needs and of companies adapting to these requirements. It must be the fruit of cooperation between all the stakeholders in a company, beginning with the employees and their representatives.

We fervently hope to reach some landmark conclusions at the November Council meeting. They must reflect the European Planfor Innovation and the Communication on industrial policy announced by the European Commission for this autumn.

We will pay particular attention to the social implications of these two instruments.

Indeed, I believe that it is extremely useful to point out at this juncture that our modelof society is a central component of European competitiveness.

In the same vein, investing in new, sustainable methods of production and consumption habits is looking towards the future and to progress. This is our new Modernism.

We need to set our sights resolutely on an eco-efficient economy that supports jobs and job-creation.But we also need to restore the confidence of our fellow Europeans by reviving the standing of the real economy that is the source of jobs and of wellbeing.

Another issue we will be addressing during our presidency concerns the instruments that I have just mentioned:the need to take account of SMEs. As you are aware, they represent more than 90%of the production unitsin Europe and are a springboard for job creation that cannot be overlooked. As far as innovation is concerned, they should therefore be given specific tools for both financing and accessing finance, as well as access to research results more generally.

I am convinced that instruments such as clustering will usefully serve the goal of spreading innovation across businesses and SMEs in particular. This topic will be covered in a special session in the course of the day and will be a central theme over the coming months. I shall be involved in the Commission's launch of a European clustering policy and this subject will also feature at the INNOVA Conference to be held in Liège at the end of October.

A number of events will mark this presidency of the Competitiveness Council and I hope that many of you will come along when they are open to the general public.

I wish you every success in your work and look forward to the first conclusions and a summary of the same at the end of the day.

Thank you for your attention

Jean-Claude Marcourt