Innovation Europe > News > Innovation EU Vol2-1 > Changing mindsets from the roots up

Gernot Hlotz, Executive Director for Research & Innovation, European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC)

The last few months have seen real progress for the innovation agenda in Europe. One major step was the new addition of innovation to the Research Commissioner’s portfolio for the first time and the appointment of Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, who promised less talk and more action when setting out her plans for an “innovation union” in her confirmation hearing at the European Parliament. Geoghegan-Quinn recognises the need to build an innovation landscape and to speed up innovation throughout the value chain. But can the European Commission shift its focus and change its policy instruments enough to achieve this?

In the Commission President’s EU 2020 strategy, innovation takes centre stage as a means to boost green growth and knowledge in Europe. So the big picture political signs are positive. How the EU 2020 strategy is implemented and how quickly will determine how successfully industry can bring innovations to market for a sustainable European society. The EU 2020 strategy certainly presents opportunities for industry, as it refocuses the strategic research agenda on societal challenges, reflecting a similar shift in focus which has been going on in the chemical industry recently.

EU 2020 strategy priorities like building a bio-economy by 2020, boosting key enabling technologies and helping older people stay independent in their own homes can only be achieved through technology and innovation. The EU 2020 strategy also addresses skills shortages, something that industry has been concerned with for some time, for example the need to boost science on the school curriculum in order to produce more science graduates.

With the EU 2020 strategy the EU wants to create knowledge, but we also see the need to exploit existing know-how, which is why we have agreed to take part in the High Level Group on Key Enabling Technologies. This group of EU Commissioners, CEOs and ministers from EU member states will make recommendations to the EU on barriers and benchmarks for innovation in Europe. We all know what the pressing issues are, from climate change to safe water supply and the ageing population, and while there is a lot of goodwill in the EU institutions, we need to be able to move faster if we are to respond to these challenges before it’s too late.

We hope the group on Key Enabling Technologies will be even more useful than last year’s High Level Group on the Competitiveness of the Chemical Industry. High Level Groups are a useful discussion forum to shape commonly supported strategies and enable industry to contribute to the setting of priorities, but, as with all policy initiatives, the challenge comes after the headlines have died down and the recommendations come to be implemented.

This is why the chemical industry and EU ministers have asked the Commission to report back by the end of this year on the progress made since its report. As an industry, we have focused on responding to the recommendations of the group, in particular restructuring the work of the EU Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry (SusChem) to include the value chain more in our work, identifying the skills needed from young people for an innovative chemical industry in Europe and to create clusters with other Technology Platforms.

As such, we have been working with the Water Sanitation and Supply Platform on defining a new approach to water management between the chemical industry and municipal water systems in order to be able to address the climate change challenge in a sustainable way. A funding application has been made to the European Commission and we hope to be able to move towards a demonstration project over the next five years.

Working with the value chain is key to addressing innovation, both at the start of the innovation process where raw materials need to respond to their needs, and at the end of the process where broader challenges, such as the need for greener cars, are outlined. Through the recent SusChem Hybrid Workshop, the chemical industry has taken the initiative to bring together different industry sectors to determine the future research agenda in materials, and the Stakeholder Event held in May continued the value chain approach.

In our discussions with policymakers, we stress the need for innovation in the manufacturing industry as there is a common perception that innovation means mainly e-innovation, when in fact we need a balance between materials and the service industry. Innovation presents an opportunity to tackle societal challenges and as an industry, we take part in the World Health Organization (WHO) Environment and Health process.

Representing the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) at the recent WHO ministerial meeting in Parma, we were pleased to learn that the younger audience there considers innovation and the business sector’s role to be key to solving environment and health challenges, and to achieving a more sustainable development.

Better understanding how society feels about new technologies is one of the focuses of Cefic’s Long-range Research Initiative (LRI), where social scientists work with toxicologists and other researchers on questions such as societal acceptance. LRI also funds research into the environment and health profile of chemicals and supports young researchers through its annual Innovative Science Award.

Europe is really good at research, but innovation is a harder sell. We have great universities and a solid research landscape, but we need to think beyond research to build an innovation landscape as expressed by Geoghegan-Quinn. In innovation there is competition and there will always be winners and losers. We don’t feel that more money is required, just that it should be better spread between research and innovation.

Innovation today does not necessarily require research as many of the ideas are already there. It will take courageous policymakers to be decisive, go beyond research and recognise that Europe’s instruments, for example the funding programmes, do not necessarily reward excellence, but rather favour European ideals such as inclusiveness and geographic spread between member states. You will often hear the innovation community saying that the criteria themselves are a clear obstacle to innovation. Industry would like to work with the Commission to set selection criteria for funding, which will reward excellence and lead to sustainable solutions for today’s societal challenges.

We need a change of mindset as you do not solve a problem with the same thinking that created the problem. If the European Technology Platforms work together more on the big issues as SusChem is already doing with the Water Platform, why not have involvement from DG Enterprise to help push ideas to market? To build an innovation chain, no one party should work in isolation. Only by working together can we create the right conditions for innovation in Europe to flourish. The EU 2020 strategy is a good start and we want to help implement it. We see our industry as the roots of the sustainable development tree and are working with all stakeholders to create an innovation framework to ensure Europe is competitive globally and can lead the way in future technologies.

“I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better. Georg Cristoph Lichtenberg German physicist 1742-1799

Executive Director for Research & Innovation,
European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC)

For more information, visit:
Website: www.cefic.be