02-04-2013
Europe excels in the generation of scientific knowledge, but lacks the ability to transfer this knowledge into new products manufactured in Europe. Fragmentation, implying the lack of collaboration, not only between the Member States, but also between public research and the private sector, is another weakness underlined in the European Commission's 2012 Policy Communication on the European Research Area (see the ERA home page):
http://ec.europa.eu/research/era/era_communication_en.htm
Moreover, European industry is also facing competitiveness problems that require the innovation chain to incorporate more and more added value in products and processes in order to address market needs. To boost this, the European Commission is promoting Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in particular key areas of development.
The key elements for an eco-system for generating value need to be discussed and implemented, all the way from the generation of scientific knowledge, as enabler for responding to concrete societal challenges, to market and industry needs, where the reinforcement of the science/ industry/ policy-making dialogue is crucial.
This STOA workshop should act as a forum for a debate among policy-makers, top-ranking scientists, high-level entrepreneurs and industry representatives presenting their vision of what could be expected from PPPs in core areas of European development (e.g. Energy Products and Advanced Materials Processes), and the interplay of PPPs with other policy instruments for Research and Innovation.
The aim is no less than taking a critical view on how to sustainably enhance European competitiveness by mobilising all the actors concerned, in order to realise the full potential of European research excellence.
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