92002E0319

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0319/02

by Giles Chichester (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(12 February 2002)

Subject: Preparations for the European Council meeting in Barcelona

The 2000 Lisbon European Council called on the Council and the Commission, together with the Member States where appropriate to introduce by June 2001 a European innovation scoreboard. Does the Commission believe that this target will be met, and what evidence can it advance in support of its view?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(18 March 2002)

An initial version of the European Innovation Scoreboard was published as an annex to the Communication Innovation in a knowledge-driven economy adopted by the Commission on 20 September 2000(1).

The 2001 version of the European Innovation Scoreboard was adopted on 14 September 2001(2). The Member of the Commission responsible for Enterprises and Information Society presented this document at a press conference on 1 October 2001(3). The scoreboard prompted considerable media interest (more than 60 press articles worldwide) and was debated by the Industry Council on 5 December 2001.

The 2002 version of the European Innovation Scoreboard is currently under preparation. It will present updated national figures, include data from the candidate countries where available, and take into account the regional dimension of innovation.

The European Innovation Scoreboard is produced under the European Trend Chart on Innovation. This project supports the open co-ordination approach launched at the European Council at Lisbon (23 and 24 March 2000). It is executed under the Fifth Framework Programme on Research and Technological Development by the Innovation and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) programme and offers yearly country reports, topical policy workshops and a database of more than 600 ongoing innovation policy measures from all Member States to enhance the exchange of experience between innovation policy makers in Europe(4).

(1) COM(2000) 567 final.

(2) Commission Staff Working Paper SEC(2001) 1414.

(3) The scoreboard can be downloaded in all Community languages from http://www.cordis.lu/innovation-smes/scoreboard/. Special issues of the Innovation & Technology Transfer Newsletter and of Cordis News, dedicated to the scoreboard, as well as the press briefing of the Member of the Commission responsible for Enterprises and Information Society are also available from this website.

(4) See www.cordis.lu/trendchart.