I just read interesting news about development of productivity during 2005 - the ten new EU member states in Central and Eastern Europe delivered a spectacular acceleration in labour productivity growth in 2005 according to The Conference Board’s annual analysis of global productivity trends, Performance 2006: Productivity, Employment and Income in the World’s Economies. On average, the EU’s new member states EU-10 increased labour productivity growth rate from 4.1% in 2004 to 6.2% in 2005. Most of the EU-10 showed an improvement in productivity growth but Poland (from 4.1 to 7.7%), Hungary (from 3.7 to 6.3%) and Slovakia (from 3.9 to 5.5%) registered the most marked increases. Remarkably, Poland’s productivity level is now higher than South Korea’s.
Continue reading ‘The highest productivity increase in Poland, Hungary and Slovakia’
Monthly Archive for January, 2006Page 2 of 2
When an entrepreneur succeeds to build, grow and sell a globally successful company, it can be called an extraordinary achievement. There is not many cases like that in the Central and Eastern Europe. If he or she succeeds to do it again, it makes him a star exceeding the dimensions of the region.
Recently we discussed here with Tarmo the Estonian team behind Kazaa (peer-to-peer system for sharing MP3 files) and Skype (acquired by eBay) that did it under Niklas Zennström (Swedish) and Janus Friis (Danish) management. I’m glad there is another success story, this time having roots in the Czech Republic.
Research policy of the EU, to the large extent performed through 6th Framework Programme (6FP), has its disadvantages. It is not completely in line with the Lisbon Strategy due to the frequent exclusion of SMEs from the FP6 funded projects. However, the SMEs are the most numerous performers of the innovative activities in the economy, they are its most dynamic part and they open the highest number of new jobs. Having in mind all this, it is necessary to include SMEs in the research and in this way increase added value of their products and services. Traditional industries are no exception, even agriculture or wine-making.
Continue reading ‘R&D in Wine-Making’
The European Commission is financing a large number of supporting projects in all thematic priorities of FP6. Only in the IST priority there is more than 50 projects aimed at increasing the number and quality of proposals (in a form of proposal development as a conventional activity) and introduction of specific services (focused on financial issues, special applications and tools, mapping reports and databases, research promotion services, etc.).
I have already described the GiST application for proposal development in my previous article. Today I will focus on the specific (’bonus’ or ‘go-beyond’) services introduced by the IST Bonus project aimed at development and promotion of the research profiles and creation of the research action plans.
Continue reading ‘Research Bonus Services for e-working and e-business sector in the IST’
Slovakia is low down on the list of EU-25 states in the area of innovations, said European Commission in latest Eurostat report. Of the European Union states Slovakia ranks 22nd. Along with Estonia, Spain, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Poland, and Turkey, Slovakia ranked well down. On other side - the Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany scored the best in terms of innovations, according to Eurostat data.
Slovakia was ranked as 24th in investments for R&D (decreased from 0,52% GDP in 1998 to 0,23% GDP in 2004) and as 25th (last position in EU-25) in innovations by enterprises. Better results were indicated in increasing trend in high-tech employment (automotive sector). In short- and middle- time periods European Commission recommends for Slovakia orientation on development of innovations potential by diffusions. This process should be supported by tercial and life-long education - which plays important roles in training of employees for higher usage of innovative technologies.
Low quality of proposals submitted to the EC programmes by the newcomers (mainly small and medium sized enterprises but also research organisations from new member states - NMS) appears to be one of the most significant problems in their successful participation in the Framework programme. New on-line application called ‘Get In Software Tool’ developed under the EC supported project allows preparation of the complete proposal in the most interactive way and respecting the submission and evaluation criteria.
Continue reading ‘GiST - On-line application for the Framework Programme proposals preparation’
Oseo Anvar, the French Agency for Innovation and the Paris metropolitan regional authority launched last year a joint action in order to enhance cooperation amongst SMEs of the region and their participation in FP6 programmes.
This pilot action aims at integrating SMEs and to give them the possibility of better targeting their project and prepare their technological strategy in the framework of the EU.
Besides a concrete support (case studies, know-how transfer, etc.) on the preparation of projects within FP programmes, Amorce Europe networks SMEs during seminars and contributes to the identification of possible partnerships. SMEs intending to participate in European projects benefit from tailor-made consulting and financial support.
Launched for a period of 18 months, Amorce Europe will end in June 2006.
Yesterday I met Vilmos Bognar, Hungary’s National Contact Point (NCP) for FP6 IST. Mr Bognar has agreed to be the keynote speaker at my upcoming First Tuesday event (Jan 31). In the course of our discussion he offered a few insights about Hungary’s FP6 participation.
The good news, according to Mr Bognar, is that Hungary could well lead Central Europe in research and development in as little as two years. The caveat, of course, is that the region as a whole has a lot of catching up to do.
Continue reading ‘View from the NCP’s desk’
Launched at the beginning of 2005, BIOCOP project is bringing together research expertise on new techniques to screen a variety of food products containing multiple toxic substances, including pesticides, heavy metals, toxins and drugs. This Integrated Project is funded by the European Commission with ten million euro under the “Food quality and safety” thematic area of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6). This five year project, coordinated by Professor Chris Elliott from the Veterinary Sciences Division of Queens University, Belfast, involves 23 partners from universities, research centres, regulatory agencies and 10 SMEs, from 15 European countries, as well as Canada.
Continue reading ‘BIOCOP: A broad and ambitious Integrated Project between universities and SMEs under the Sixth Framework Programme’
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