EU launches guide to innovation

EU launches Innovation Guide.

European Commission regional policy Commissioner, Danuta Hübner, has launched a new guide to help regions to develop and improve their approach to innovation.
The document contains practical guidance and examples of good practice drawn from 15 years of experience with innovative regional strategies and actions. Improving knowledge and innovation for growth is one of the three major priorities of the Community Strategic Guidelines for Cohesion which were adopted by the Council yesterday, and which lay out how regional policy can contribute most effectively to the sustainable creation of growth and jobs in the programming period 2007-2013.

“The aim of this guide is to help regions to learn from each other – to share on as wide a basis as possible the positive impact of their experiences with European regional policy”, Commissioner Hübner said at the presentation of the guide. She highlighted the central importance of regional policy in the Union’s strategy to promote growth and jobs, and the essential role which is played by innovation at regional level.

“I expect Member States and regions to increase the focus of their regional policy on innovation in the 2007-2013 period. As they finalise their National Strategic Reference Frameworks and draw up their operational programmes, I hope that the practical guidance contained in this document, and the good practices it presents, will be an inspiration to many”, the Commissioner said. “Regions can now experiment with new approaches, new ideas and new partnerships”, she added.

The guide: Innovative Strategies and Actions: Results from 15 Years of Regional Experimentation