Regions for Economic ChangeFostering Smart and Sustainable Growth in Cities and Regions

«Key Enabling Technologies and Skills for Globally Competitive Clusters»Brussels, 23-24 June 2011

Dr. Gernot KlotzExecutive DirectorCefic Research & Innovationgkl@cefic.be

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Innovation essentials

• Innovation is much more than R&D (not “Research plus”)

• Innovation is a chain that is as strong as the weakest link

• Value chain ≠ innovation chain

• Implementation of ideas into practical value for whole society

• Urgency / speed and competitiveness of EU region

• Double money does not produce double innovation

What it is:What it is:

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Given the challenges and the urgency innovation policies have to address critical elements of the value chain

European Model and Innovation

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• 1st class research landscape

• Network of big companies and SMEs

• Well developed markets (common market)

• Proximity of knowledge and industrial value chain

• Ability to deal with complexity

Need for a well- articulated European innovation model that: builds on own strengths keeps / create / bring back value to Europe in a quite short timeframe

Challenges

• Demands: industry to talk

• Quality: broad scientific & technical skills set base,

business skills, personal skills

• Critical mass: excellence and quantity

• Incentives: scientific excellence vs. teaching

• Mindset: eurocentric vs. global competition

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Higher Education - Industry collaboration

Research

Identify best practices Create synergies Define concrete recommendations Support broad deployment

Right workforce for Research

AND Innovation

"Industry"

Education Collaboration with relevant education networks and associations

http://www.cefic.org/Documents/PolicyCentre/Skills-for-Innovation-in-the-European-Chemical-Industry.pdf

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Key message

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• New approach needed – skills are competitive factor

• Cooperations, synergistics effects

• Not best practices but systematic and numbers

• Education objectives to be integrated in the European strategic

programmes and instruments (CSF, ESF and ETP’s)

• Europe including the regions have to significantly speed up

• Europe is the cluster!

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" 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

Broad use of solar panels

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