11 / 03 / 2020
EARTO Press Release on the New EU Industrial Strategy
EARTO welcomes the European Commission’s Communication on “A New Industrial Strategy for Europe”, with its clear focus on European industrial ecosystems based on key enabling technologies. EARTO very much values such approach, which is essential to foster the development of Europe’s innovation hubs along key industrial value chains and to boost collaboration and co-creation in Europe. This New Industrial Strategy for Europe also recognises the crucial role of technology development and scale-up as well as technology infrastructures, which will be key enablers of the twin transition towards climate neutrality and digital leadership. On the European Commission’s “making it happen” plans, EARTO very much welcomes:- The call for a swift agreement on the next Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF) – An ambitious and timely agreement on the next EU long-term budget is essential to launch the key EU RD&I post-2020 programmes and policies on time, including Horizon Europe, the Digital Europe Programme, the Space Programme and the Defence Funds as well as Interreg’s Component 5. Boosting EU investments in those programmes will enable to leverage private RD&I investments on the key technologies needed for Europe’s strategic industrial ecosystems.
- The upcoming Communication on the future of Research and Innovation and the European Research Area – The renewal of the European Research Area with a new focus on the development of a strong industrial base, where SMEs and midcap companies play a key role, is very much welcome. Addressing the technology development and diffusion challenges will also be essential to boost SMEs’ productivity and growth, in line with the twin transition.
- The launch of public private partnerships in the Horizon Europe Programme – Supporting the continuity of public-private partnerships, as efficient instruments for excellent industry-driven collaborative RD&I in Europe is crucial. Trust between RD&I stakeholders within industrial ecosystems takes time to create, and trust is an indispensable element for those ecosystems to be able to face today’s challenges. Such continuity is necessary if Europe wants to capitalise on the investments that these partnerships already represent.
- The creation of an open Industrial Forum – The setup of a permanent high-level governance forum, including all key actors, will be crucial to coordinate investments in areas where individual actors alone cannot achieve the proper level of ambitions. This new Industrial Forum could also be charged to further look at directionality, synergies and interoperability between policy design, instruments and various funding sources.
- The screening and analysis of industrial needs and the identification of ecosystems needing a tailor-made approach – The monitoring of current investments and the development of new plans (via new IPCEIs, new industrial alliances or new public-private partnerships) should be further supported by the new Industrial Forum. The creation of key European alliances is the way forward to boost RD&I investments in Europe, coordinate EU RD&I initiatives (EU RD&I partnerships, research & technology infrastructures, regional smart specialisation, clusters, etc.), and boost EU capacities on key technologies. RTOs will play a key role to support the creation of such alliances by their industrial partners.
- The planned revision of the State Aid rules, including for IPCEIs, and the Intellectual Property Action Plan – As noted in EARTO Recommendations for EU RD&I Policies post-2020, efforts will be needed to improve our EU RD&I Framework conditions. Europe needs a strong European Intellectual Property (IP) regime, more standardisation efforts as well as updated state aid rules.
