SPEECH/04/543 Janez POTOČNIK European Commissioner for Science and Research Technology Platforms: champions to leverage knowledge for growth Seminar of Industrial Leaders of Technology Platforms Brussels, 15 December 2004
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to welcome you to this seminar today. As new Commissioner for Research, it gives me great pleasure to have the opportunity to address this first-ever gathering of the industrial leaders of European technology platforms. These platforms can only succeed if industry takes the lead in setting them up and driving them forward. Your participation today demonstrates industry s active commitment to technology platforms and I would like to acknowledge this. I am fully behind the development technology platforms. I see them as a key component of future European research policy. I would like to share some reflections with you on our efforts to become a dynamic knowledge-based society and on the role I see technology platforms play in these efforts. Knowledge for Growth If we are to stand a chance of meeting the Lisbon goals, determined action must be taken at European level to put knowledge at the heart of Europe s policy for competitiveness. Our main, if not only, factor of competitiveness in a globalising economy is knowledge. Not knowledge for the sake of knowing. But putting knowledge to work to create economic success and address societal challenges. In Europe, we must become better at creating knowledge through research, at diffusing knowledge through education and at applying knowledge through innovation. And we can reinforce this knowledge triangle of education, research and innovation by creating the adequate regulatory, financial and other conditions that promote the knowledge economy. This is why I am advocating, as part of the Commission s proposals fro reinvigorating the Lisbon strategy, that we launch a Knowledge for Growth Pact. We already have a Stability and Growth Pact. This ensures fiscal discipline, which is indispensable for stable, long term growth. The Knowledge for Growth Pact could complement this and ensure a disciplined focus on micro-economic policies and investments that are productive for the future. I would see such a pact organised around a limited number of quantitative objectives that the EU and the Member Sates would commit themselves to achieve. In research, we have the target of spending 3% of our GDP on research and development, which our political leaders have committed to achieve by 2010. A Knowledge for Growth initiative would surely give new impetus to efforts for reaching this target. But realising the knowledge society is a broad project that requires the joint commitment of many policy areas: education, employment and social policies, enterprise, internal market, competition, information society, justice and home affairs, environment, cohesion policy, and others. 2
At the same time, it is better knowledge and greater application of knowledge that can bring responses to challenges in many EU policy areas, be it for sustainable agriculture, e-government, intelligent transport systems or more efficient use of natural resources, to name but a few. When looking at the list of today s participants, I don t think I will have a hard time convincing you of the contribution that knowledge can make, both to competitiveness and sustainability. This equation between economic growth and competitiveness on the one hand, and environmental and social sustainability on the other hand, goes right to the heart of what the European model of society is about. It is knowledge that enables us to make that equation. And I strongly believe that, if they prove successful, technology platforms can become champions for making this equation a reality. Technology platforms Research has become an essential driving force in fostering our industrial competitiveness. This is particularly the case in high technology sectors that hold the key to success in the knowledge-based economy. But it is also the case in more traditional sectors as they seek to reorient their efforts in the face of the challenges of the new technological era. The reality is that as research becomes more complex and more expensive, there are many research needs that can no longer be met effectively at national level alone. Action at European level can make the difference. It can establish the necessary critical mass of resources to allow industry in Europe to catch up with and eventually overtake its global competitors. One of the main messages I have got from industrialists, since taking office a few weeks ago, is that we urgently need to create better synergy between European and national investments, and between public and private efforts. This is where technology platforms play a key role. Technology platforms unite all relevant stakeholders, industry, the research community and public authorities at different levels as well as the financial community, regulators, consumers and wider civil society, in addressing a particular technological challenge. Platforms therefore represent a powerful mobilising force. They can build the necessary scale of effort to achieve the major advances in research and development. Europe s growth and competitiveness depends on it. Industry s lead role in technology platforms is crucial in this regard. Industrial leadership of platforms ensures they are focussed on potential future markets for key technologies. This leadership can provide the necessary impulse to realise Europe s potential in leading-edge technologies. It can also stimulate the emergence of first-mover markets in Europe in these technologies. 3
Platforms should also contribute to increasing investment in research in Europe. They provide a framework for the enterprise, scientific and financial worlds to come together. More significantly, they can make viable projects that can only be conceived at European level. This, in turn, boosts research performance. The architecture of platforms helps build the capacity to transform knowledge into products and services. Europe can thus overcome its deficiencies in converting scientific excellence into commercial success and economic growth. I want to emphasise at the same time that if technology platforms are to be successful, they must be open and have clear rules for access for stakeholders, both existing and new. I believe that a voluntary code of good practice can be an effective way of promoting this necessary openness and transparency. If platforms meet the transparency and openness challenge successfully, their impact need not be limited to the research field. The combination of strong industry leadership and broadly-based stakeholder involvement means that platforms can also make a valuable contribution to the broader policy agenda. Technology platforms can ensure that Europe develops coherent and effective programmes and actions across a wide range of policies that are oriented towards tackling our key technological challenges, in areas such as transport, energy, environment, information society and many others. Technology platforms as knowledge for growth champions This brings me back to the objective of leveraging knowledge for growth. Technology platforms can become champions in this respect. Firstly, because they are underpinned by a strong European-level approach. Their raison d être is to bring coherence in the multitude of R&D investments that are made at different levels across Europe. Secondly, platforms involve a bottom-up approach. They are only launched where stakeholders from across the Member States are themselves convinced that investment in a platform makes sense. Thirdly, the level of investment required for a platform necessitates the mobilisation of productive funding on a large scale. Such funding will not be forthcoming unless a wide range of financial players is convinced that their investment will yield a productive return in the long term. Fourthly, platforms also embody a coherent approach from initial research and development through to downstream product and service development. One important investment envisaged in the Knowledge for Growth Pact is in the education and training of people to take Europe to the top of the knowledge-intensity ladder. In this regard also, platforms will play an important role. They will help focus investment in knowledge development on skills areas which will be necessary to capture and implement the technologies of the future. The broad stakeholder base of platforms provides a powerful communications medium for our knowledge for growth strategy. By raising public awareness and facilitating dialogue with society at large, platforms can help build consensus on the need to focus investment and effort at a European level on the technologies for the future. 4
These are all reasons why I see strong potential in Technology Platforms and I will continue to give my support to their work. The strategic research agendas of technology platforms will be important building blocks in helping to shape the Commission s proposal for the Seventh Framework Programme. The bottom-up nature of platforms and the dynamic process by which Strategic Research Agendas are defined provide a solid basis for identifying thematic priorities for collaborative research in FP7. The strong industry involvement in platforms is particularly important here. The instruments of collaborative research are likely to provide the most appropriate means of support for the implementation of the Strategic Research Agendas of the majority of platforms. This does require, however, that EU-funding is the most optimal and essential support for realising a truly European strategic research agenda, complementary to investments and efforts made by Member States. A small number of platforms will have developed a Strategic Research Agenda that can only be implemented through long-term public-private partnerships. The Commission recognises that particular needs of these platforms will also have to be addressed in its proposal for the Seventh Framework Programme. In such cases, the Commission will propose to Council and Parliament to launch and support large-scale technology initiatives. It would be premature to discuss the questions of who, how and when, but the Commission is working hard on the criteria to evolve technology platforms into technology initiatives. Conclusion Ladies and Gentlemen, The objective of today s seminar is not to discuss the Framework Programme. Neither is it a stage for showcasing particular platforms. The primary purpose is for you, the key players involved in platforms, to exchange experiences and ideas on how to address horizontal issues that relate to all platforms. Permit me to reiterate the message that one of the main challenges for all platforms is to ensure transparency and openness vis-à-vis all stakeholders, including potential new participants. Platforms will founder if allowed to drift into closed shops. Therefore I call on you to sign up to the voluntary code of practice on openness and transparency of platforms that I have put forward today. Another challenge is to continuously keep national and regional public authorities actively involved and supportive of the Platform. It is only in doing so that we will realise a true European Research Area. Let me conclude by reaffirming that the Commission is dedicated to the concept of technology platforms. We will facilitate the development of platforms in every way possible. 5
At the same time, we do not wish to hinder the independence of platforms. So it is for you, the industrial leaders of the platforms, to make this seminar today a success, as it depends on you to make the platforms successful. With the growing realisation that research and development is a key driving force for maintaining sustainable prosperity in Europe, I know that the expectations vis-à-vis the European Union in this area are great. Let me also say that we at the Commission, together with many other stakeholders, have equally high expectations from your technology platforms to leverage knowledge for growth and economic success. I offer you my best wishes for your work ahead today and I thank you for your attention. 6