Chapter 1 The EU strategy for Innovation
As Europe continues its quest to remain a competitive player on the world stage, the investment in the renewal of capacity and capabilities becomes evermore important. The heralded knowledge society has not reached all Europeans in an equal manner, neither have the benefits been reaped by all. Regional disparities have continued to grow in most European countries and the differences can be particularly acute between the great European cities and those areas that are remote, suffering from the decline of traditional industries or predominantly rural. It is unlikely that economic prosperity can be pursued in isolation from other policies. The European approach to sustainable development, set out in the Lisbon - Gothenburg strategy, aims to work towards achieving a “…development model by focusing on competitiveness, jobs and solidarity between regions and between generations.”1 Measures that help re-address imbalances between regions are thus seen to benefit Europe as a whole. It is against this backdrop that this publication seeks to assess the longer-term impact of the then - ground breaking concept of developing regional strategies to promote innovation in regions that were at risk of being left behind.
1.1 The Lisbon Strategy2
(1)
Romano Prodi, First President of the European Commission circa EU-25, European Parliament, Strasbourg, 5 May 2004 (2)
Website for information: http://europa.eu.int/comm/lisbon_ strategy/index_en.html
In March 2000 the Lisbon Council launched the EU’s decade long strategy for economic, social and environmental renewal. The objective is to make by 2010 the EU “the most dynamic and competitive knowledge based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.” The Lisbon strategy involves a comprehensive, coherent and mutually reinforcing set of actions designed to transform the performance of the EU and
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