Photographs from the seminar available HERE. An official press release bellow:
Brussels: Despite the mid-summer timing, 50 representatives of European Commission, European Parliament, Member States, business associations, regions, research institutions and other stakeholders gathered to discuss with 14 distinguished speakers the various aspects of innovation at a conference organised by CEBRE and Czech Permanent Representation, focusing on innovations in the field of energy and smart grids, innovative solutions in environment and transfer of knowledge.
Deputy Czech Permanent Representative Jana Reinišová opened the conference outlining the great priority given to promoting innovation in the coming months through the EU2020 strategy, Innovative Union flagship initiative and innovation as a topic of autumn Council of Ministers and European Council. “It is much easier to support research than innovation, thus we have to keep trying to invest in innovation and find suitable benchmarks,” said Reinišová. David Harmon, Member of the Cabinet of Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, stressed the strong political dedication of all parties involved to invest more in research and innovation and to create Single Innovation Market. “Recently established Group for Indicators examines what are the most effective indicators to be used to measure development in innovation, as the current indicator – share of investment to R&D on GDP does not reflex the compexity of innovations” added Harmon. Secretary General of EUROCHAMBRES Arnaldo Abruzzini voiced his disappointment: “Businesses are the innovation drivers! And not only those in research! Nonetheless businesses need to have motivation through some fiscal stimulus, to ensure better access to finance and to stabilise their human resources through better skills match.”
Member of ITRE Committee Paul Rübig MEP called for better implementation of common objectives: “There are several strategies and legislation in place already, including the 3rd energy package, but the crucial question now is the delivery – how do Member States implement them.” Discussions about innovation in energy sector was further motivated through a presentation of European Commissions approach to smart grids by Kristian Takač from DG ENER and complemented by Milan Špaténka, Director of Distribution Grids Development, ČEZ Group. “Czechs are at the forefront of many international projects, already implementing a Smart Region pilot project in Vrchlabí (CZ) and co-funding the European Electricity Grid Initiative (EEGI), said Špaténka. “In the field of environment many people still limit the scope of innovation – but it can go from green technologies and working with nature through eco-system based approach to green infrastructure,” said Ladislav Miko, Director at DG ENVI. Several innovative environmental solutions were presented by Miroslav Šindlar, Managing Director of company ŠINDLAR EU. Jean-Roger Drèze from Belgian Federal D-G Environment completed the overall picture by presenting Belgian Presidency plans, calling for “strategic and innovative subsidiarity” to speed delivery.
Knowledge transfer is a crucial element of innovation, enabling to transfer the outcomes of research into growth and jobs. European Commission supports this transfer through initiatives such as the Regions of Knowledge programme, mentioned Olivier Brunet from DG Research. Tomáš Hruda, Director of CEITEC – Central European Institute of Technology, pointed out the role of regional innovation strategies and cooperation of business, education and public/regional authorities in this respect. Stefaan Vanderstraeten from Daikin Europe called for better publicity of successful innovative projects as even the final consumer has to be educated about the impact of innovation. Martin Hlaváček from Czech Permanent Representation drew conclusions from the debate saying that we seem to know quite well about the challenges ahead but have difficulties to agree on how to face them. Folker Franz from BUSINESSEUROPE concluded by a strong message stating that the environmental cost of a product should not only be measured during its production phase but during its lifecycle.
The event was organized on 14h July 2010, by CEBRE – Czech Business Representation to the EU in cooperation with the Czech Permanent Representation to the EU. The event took place thanks to CEZ Group, European Commission, CEITEC and South Moravia Region and PR support of EurActiv.com and Leaders Magazine.
