Innovation policy, the key to European competitiveness

Innovation policy is a priority for all Member States. Throughout the European Union, hundreds of policy measures and support schemes have been implemented in the past few years or are being drafted. Their diversity reflects the diversity of the underlying conditions, cultural preferences and political priorities in the Member States. Nevertheless, there is also a growing perception of innovation policy as a truly European task. The Lisbon Summit of March 2000 was a highly visible landmark in this process. It highlighted the need to better combine the European Union's and Member States' efforts, to carry out regular benchmarking exercises in order to measure and compare the innovation performance of EU countries, and to promote a dialogue between different stakeholders in the innovation system. The "European TrendChart on Innovation" implements the "open co-ordination approach" laid down by the Lisbon Council. It provides policy makers and managers of innovation support schemes with summarised information and statistics on innovation policies, performances and trends in Member States, and supports the exchange of good practice in this area. http://trendchart.cordis.lu/tour.cfm