Hungarian EUREKA Chairmanship seeks smart growth through international R&D cooperation
Hungarian EUREKA Chairmanship seeks smart growth through international R&D cooperation
On 8 July 2011, the Hungarian EUREKA Chairmanship started its Chairmanship year actively (July 2011-June 2012) with a high-level conference on Smart Growth through International R&D Cooperation, in Budapest.
In line with the Europe 2020 strategy and its Innovation Union flagship initiative, the event’s aim was to serve as a forum for stakeholders to discuss how international R&D&I cooperation activities, in particular EUREKA, could contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of European SMEs and enhancing smart growth in the regions.
High-level stakeholders from the EU institutions, industry and academia actively contributed to a lively debate during both sessions. The incoming EUREKA Chairman Sándor Erdő presented the main priorities of the Hungarian Chairmanship year:
- To improve the position of EUREKA in theERA and further strengthen the Eurostars programme;
- To facilitate the regional dimension of EUREKA;
- To develop EUREKA services to finance innovation;
- To promote industry-driven R&D&I project generation.
How should EU and international R&D&I programmes best cover the full innovation cycle from research to market uptake; the contribution of EUREKA to this process; how the EU SME policy can be improved and the role of Article 185 and the Eurostars model in the next CSF-Horizon 2020 and boosting competitiveness and innovation in Europe, were some of the issues addressed and answered by the audience.
The role of the Structural Funds in stimulating R&D and innovation investment in European regions was also discussed, especially its relationship to stimulating the emergence of clusters of technological competence and excellence especially involving SMEs. The conclusions of this conference will have a significant role in the relevant priorities for the Hungarian EUREKA Chairmanship aiming at creating a continuously evolving and improving network with an ability to meet today’s challenges.
Germany’s Director for European Affairs and Deputy Director-General for European and International Cooperation at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and EUREKA High-Level Representative Walter Moenig, gave the keynote address on Strengthening the Competitiveness of European SMEs. This panel was chaired by Director of Research Council of Norway and EUREKA High-Level Representative Kristin Danielsen.
Head of Unit, the Regional Dimension of Innovation at the European Commission’s DG for Research and Innovation Dimitri Corpakis, was the keynote speaker for the Role of international R&D programmes in boosting competitiveness at regional level session chaired by Lajos Nyíri of the Zinnia Group (Hungary).
Other panellists were: Luuk Borg, Head of EUREKA Secretariat; András Sebők, Managing Director, Champden BRI Magyarország Ltd., ETP Food for Life, chairman of the SME Task Force; Lieve Van Woensel, Policy Officer, European Commission, Research and Innovation DG, SME Unit; Rudolf Haggenmüller, ITEA2 Chairman; Ilmar Pralla, Director of Innovation Division, Enterprise Estonia Chairman of TAFTIE Board for 2011; Frits H. Von Meijenfeldt, Head of Division for International Affairs, Department for Innovation, NL Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture & Innovation; Maura Claramunt, Cooperación Tecnològica Internacional, Norbert Grasselli, Managing Director, INNOVA Észak-Alföld Regional Innovation Agency, Richard Tuffs, ERRIN Director and Fopke Klok, Director ITEA 2 Office.