The 8th European Innovation Summit: Future Now!

While the 8th European Innovation Summit is opening its doors to welcome some 800 innovation stakeholders from across Europe and beyond, discussions on the mid-term review and post 2020 preparations are already on the way. There are big questions as to whether the impressive budget spent by EU bears its fruits. Main players such as the EIT KICs, the Joint Technology Initiatives, EUREKA and COST are looking at how to measure and maximise the impact of investment in research and innovation in Europe. The midterm review is not only crucial for refining the priorities for the final phase of Horizon 2020 but more importantly for reviewing the current structures and programmes in support of research and innovation for the period beyond 2020 including a number of important instruments such as ESIF, EFSI, InnovFin and more.

At the same time, INPACT – ‘The Pact for Innovation’ launched by knowledge4innovation during last year’s innovation summit is getting traction. Most of the debates of the 8th European Innovation Summit and first of all the plenary session on mid-term review and post 2020 preparations are directly linked to one or more of the 14 INPACT priorities.

With INPACT, Knowledge4Innovation is refocusing important topics related to the debate on the future of innovation in Europe and at the same time opening up participation to non-K4I members. As Robert Madelin pointed it out in his innovation report to President Juncker: ‘Opportunity now: Europe’s mission to innovate’: “INPACT gives a great new platform on which not only volunteer actors but also the EU institutions should now come together”.

A novelty in the organisational structure of the Summit this year is to host the bi-annual INPACT meeting which will present and discuss the outcomes of the first INPACT working groups meetings.

The debate on science communication stated that “Europe is significantly below the level needed to keep the public informed, ensure a broad public debate on the impact of science on society and allow for informed innovation acceptance and that it is therefore timely to rethink how the EU can support stronger Science Communication.

The working group on young generation innovators and entrepreneurs is emphasizing on the strong link between ‘talent’ and innovation: To secure its position in a global context in this century the EU must, as a priority, invest in young talent.

A major focus of the working group on the regulatory framework is on the application of the Innovation Principle in the EU decision making process which requires a systematic analysis of the consequences for innovation during the impact assessment of new and reviewed policies and legislation across all sectors.

Policy makers today are particularly challenged by the need to adapt political structures to breakthrough technologies and innovative business models. To be able make recommendations to policy makers the working group is initially taking a closer at the great variety of technologies and the very different fields of application: From genetic engineering and medical technology to autonomous driving, from energy storage solutions to artificial intelligence, from material science to nano-technologies, we are dealing with many different technologies under one name: Breakthrough.

No doubt, the INPACT actors and the participants at the 8th European Innovation Summit will make a major contribution to the ambitious task of improving the framework conditions for innovation in Europe. And keep on advocating for innovation to be at the centre of EU policy making.

The Summit will be covered extensively via social media, thus providing everyone with the possibility to participate in the debates. Please follow us on Twitter (@k4innovation), and join the conversation by using the hashtags #8EIS and #INPACT.

For more information on the Summit, please click here.

Press contacts: email: k4i@knowledge4innovation.eu , Telephone: +32 2 23 35 451