EUROPE IS BACK: ACCELERATING BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATION
The independent High-Level Group of Innovators advising the European Commission has published its recommendations on how a European Innovation Council (EIC) should fund and nurture breakthrough innovation from start-up to scale-up.
The independent High-Level Group of Innovators advising the European Commission has published its recommendations on how a European Innovation Council (EIC) should fund and nurture breakthrough innovation from start-up to scale-up.
In their report, entitled 'Europe is back: Accelerating breakthrough innovation', they recommend that a future EIC provides simplified and flexible financing, tailor-made for the needs of the innovator and which incentivises private investment for rapid scaling up. They also recommend boosting awareness of Europe's innovation successes and leveraging European ecosystems, so that highly innovative companies can benefit from expertise and partnerships from across Europe.
Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation Carlos Moedas welcomed the recommendations and said they formed a significant input for the development of a fully-fledged European Innovation Council as part of the next EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. The report was first presented to French President Emmanuel Macron at the World Economic Forum in Davos, who has made similar calls for a European agency for innovation.
Under the message that "it is time for Europe to act FAST", the High Level Group of Innovators, chaired by Hermann Hauser, Co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners, puts forward a set of 14 recommendations to help Europe recover its position as innovation leader in the world. They are summarized as follows:
F unding: empower the innovator, simplify, incentivise private investment
1. Simplify current schemes into a small set of “EIC Awards” (grants and other forms of
funding) supporting the emergence and the scaling up of breakthrough market-creating
innovation
2. Enable grants, loans and equity investments to be awarded in combination
3. Create an EIC advisory board to put the focus on the innovator
4. Change evaluation, selection and management to enable risk taking and flexibility
5. Design websites, application forms, etc., with innovators’ needs uppermost
A wareness: champion innovators, communicate success
6. Set up comprehensive monitoring and information systems that combine data from EIC with other sources
7. Collect and make available intelligence on emerging technologies coming from national and EU programs
8. Communicate success stories
S cale: build the camp, leverage European ecosystems
9. Help EIC awardees access high-quality partnerships and networks across Europe
10. Continue improving access to risk finance for innovators
11. Partner and share practice with other innovation agencies and programmes
12. Help EIC awardees overcome regulatory barriers and improve the early identification of regulatory barriers for emerging technologies
T alent: connect people, create prestige for innovators
13. Introduce prestigious “EIC fellowship” to recognise leading innovators
14. Pair up EIC awardees with experienced peers
The full report published on 24 January can be found at https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/eic_hlg_bz_web.pdf