Europe lags behind in terms of innovation and start-ups

“Europe is still quite good in the field of science, but is really lagging behind in valorizing that science in industrial applications,” says Michiel Scheffer, chairman of the board of the European Innovation Council.

“The gap in patents, the gap in start-ups and the gap in unicorns that emerge from innovation is even greater.”

Today, Europe is responsible for 18% of the world’s innovative production, compared to 25% about fifteen years ago, according to Balázs Hankó, Hungary’s education minister.

The biggest reason for the gap is Europe’s “mistaken” and “weak” financing landscape, which needs to be revived without compromising European values ​​or losing sight of socio-political objectives, Scheffer said.

The European Innovation Council, set up in March 2021 under the EU’s Horizon Europe programme, received €10.1 billion (£8.7 billion) to support “game-changing innovations” and the “financing and scaling up of start-ups ups and small and medium enterprises”.

To date, the EIC has funded around 500 European companies, 90% of which are located within 10 km of a university.

“Existing companies are not going to realize a (digital) transition in Europe, so we need new ones. Our role (at EIC) is not only to stay current, but also to be enterprising and exploratory,” Scheffer said.

Scheffer emphasized that the instrument should be the “icing on the cake” and that the majority of investment in innovation should come from national and regional financing.

“France is probably the country with the best management of regional, national and European (financing). That is also why France does the best in the system,” said Scheffer, who also pointed out that Germany and the Netherlands are developing public resources to stimulate innovation.

In 2021, President Macron announced a major investment program known as ‘France 2030’, including €13 billion for higher education and research-related actions.

“The aim is to encourage universities to transform their curricula to match the desires and needs of the nation,” said Sebastian Chevalier, head of higher education and research strategy at the French ministry of education.

This includes connecting higher education more closely with France’s industrial goals and transforming the curriculum for employment opportunities and socio-economic performance, Chevalier said.

“We also encourage universities to take risks in research and try to open new doors. Some will work, some won’t work, but that’s no problem. At this point we are encouraging the risk,” he said.

“We encourage universities to take risks in research and try to open new doors. Some will work, some won’t work, but that’s no problem”

National higher education strategies are being developed across Europe in Hungary, Greece and Latvia to encourage market-oriented research and drive performance-based economic outcomes, delegates heard.

And yet: “without values, KPIs are empty”, and socio-economic objectives should not conflict with European values, according to Scheffer.

“Yes, we have socio-economic responsibilities, but universities also have tasks that go further. They also make socio-political contributions.

“When the European Commission finances projects, we finance them within the framework of European values. So it is not an apolitical instrument. It is a political instrument aimed at strengthening Europe’s position as an opinion leader.”