Greetings from the first EPISIS INNO-Net conference

The first international conference of the INNO-Net EPISIS (European policies and instruments to support service innovation) was held on June 14- 16, in Copenhagen, Denmark. The event was organised together with the Europe INNOVA initiative under the topic ‘Services innovation as a catalyst for the Europe 2020 Strategy’.

The joint event was a great opportunity to the representatives of three EU funded initiatives (EPISIS, Expert Panel on Services Innovation in the EU and Europe INNOVA) to meet each other and share their views related to the latest trends in the field of service innovations. The event provided the participants with a coherent overview of all ongoing activities in the area. The audience consisting of about 150 people was able to explore national services innovation strategies in Europe as well as the role of services innovation in tackling societal challenges in Europe.

At the end of the day, it came clear that in order to make successful policy recommendations having concrete impacts, it is crucial to adapt demand-driven, customer-centric approach to service innovation. Now more than ever the companies have to understand their customers’ needs and the way they are doing business.

Accordingly, policy makers should have their focus group, the service companies, as a focal point when aligning innovation policies related to service business. By having deep and thorough understanding of present business environment and forecasting the future one will speed up competitiveness and find new ways to overcome societal challenges in Europe.

As a multi-dimensional, multi-level phenomenon, service innovation creates challenges for the traditional innovation policy. Success in the area calls for horizontal approach and requires transnational cooperation regarding e.g. knowledge transfer and policy framework. The common language about the basic concepts is a necessity in practical level as well as in the policy level. The EPISIS project has been created to tackle the needs. Second service innovation conference will be held in Germany in the spring 2011.