The title of this post is a quotation from Meir Brand’s presentation, delivered at Innovation Thursday in Prague last week. The event attracted about 130 people and was organised in cooperation with our FIRST Innovation Park and the CITT project. Michael Novak and I also took part in the founding meeting of the Innovators Club where we talked to several key ICT innovation players in the Czech Republic.
I wrote down a few remarks that seem to me highly relevant to the technology transfer activities within CITT and thus I am offering them as the starting points for our cluster strategy development.
Continue reading ‘Some secrets are more valuable when shared’
Early this year I was invited to become a team member contributing to the Regional Innovation Strategy of Southern Moravia within the working group responsible for communication and international relations. One of the topics discussed was how to coordinate activities realized by a large number of institutions.
Continue reading ‘Is there an innovation calendar?’
Thursday afternoon I spent in Prague at an event dedicated to investments into technology start-ups. I was listening to a VC fund, two business angels and two incubators sharing their views with an audience of mostly ICT entrepreneurs.
The whole concept of Innovation Thursdays is focused on innovation in the Czech Republic and on bringing together innovators, investors and policy makers. Take a look at the opening event of the series held in the Senate hall (video archive and photos).
Continue reading ‘Can Central Europe follow Israeli innovation examples?’
I’d like to about hear your experiences with technology transfer. I’m addressing this request to the nowEurope contributors circle, many of whom I have only recently met. My experience has mainly been with small, entrepreneurial startups in Internet media.
However, I do recall that some fifteen years ago when I used a text interface to navigate the Internet through the Siemens Data-P network I discovered a Hungarian professor who had a working copy of Mosiac, the first primitive web browser. His student later told me the professor had refused to post a copy of Mosiac on the open university for others to use.
Continue reading ‘Confessions of a tech transfer newbie’
EurActive reports that the think tank ‘Lisbon Council for Economic Competitiveness and Social Renewal’ has released a study warning that continued growth in the new EU states of Central Europe should not be taken for granted.
“While central and eastern European countries have been “the engine of dynamism, mobility and flexibility” that was lacking the EU-15, the human capital issue in these new member states could have a negative effect on the EU economy as a whole if nothing is done to bridge the gap, warns the authors.”
Continue reading ‘Think tank: don’t take CEE growth for granted’
“While efforts to make it easier for Europeans to set up their own company are starting to pay off,” Euractiv reports, “a majority of EU citizens continue to hold back for fear of going bust. The Commission is now proposing taking action to reduce the stigma attached to business failure and encourage non-fraudulent bankrupts to make a fresh start.”
Small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 99% of all businesses in the EU, employ 77 million people, create one in every two new jobs.
Continue reading ‘Removing the stigma of bankruptcy in Europe’
Launched in October 2005 by DG Enterprise and Industry, Europe INNOVA is an initiative for innovation professionals under the thematic “Structuring the European Research Area” of the 6th Framework Programme. It aims at providing policy makers, innovation intermediaries and enterprises with data and surveys on innovation. This project adopts a sector-based approach and tends to develop networking on innovation in the all Europe. More than 800 innovation professionals from 23 Member States are involved in this initiative.
Continue reading ‘Europe INNOVA has launched its website’
All regions in the Slovak Republic have received a support form the European Commission under the Framework Programme for development of Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS). The projects are implemented by the Self-Governing regions in co-operation with the universities, regional development agencies and experienced consultant in order to develop the innovation strategy according to the EC methodology and to include the innovation issue in the regional development plans.
EC co-ordinates the development of RIS projects under the IRE network (http://www.innovating-regions.org). Since 1994, more than 120 European regions have received support for carrying out Regional Innovation Strategy projects from the European Commission. These projects aim to support regions in developing regional innovation strategies that enhance regional innovation and competitiveness through optimising innovation policies and infrastructure.
Continue reading ‘Regional innovation strategies in Slovakia’
In addition to the research framework programme, the European Commission outlined it intended to boost Europe’s competitiveness and innovation through a new programme - CIP, to run from 2007 until 2013 with a budget of 4.2126 billion euro. There are some ideas how to improve its running and connections with national programmes.
The Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme is the Commission’s response to calls for greater coherence and synergy between the Community programmes and instruments relevant to the Lisbon strategy, with the principle aim to support innovation in SMEs, take up of ICT in industry and more efficient use of energy.
Continue reading ‘Networking in CIP’
“Just think what Europe could be. Think of the innate strengths of our enlarged Union. Think of its untapped potential to create prosperity and offer opportunity and justice for all its citizens. Europe can be a beacon of economic, social and environmental progress to the rest of the world.”
No this is not Konrad Adenauer’s or Robert Schumann’s vision for Europe some 50 years ago, but President Barroso’s one, in February 2005, communicating on how Members States could better work together for growth and jobs and how the EU could take a new start for the Lisbon Strategy.
Based on policy recommendations for the Mid-Term Review of the Lisbon Strategy, all Members States had been asked in 2005 to put together Action Plans for National Lisbon Strategy in the framework of a new partnership for Growth and Jobs.
One year after, which conclusions can be made?
Continue reading ‘Any progress towards the Lisbon strategy?’
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