Public consultation on effectiveness of innovation support

We wish to inform you that DG Enterprise and Industry launched a public consultation on the effectiveness of innovation support in Europe on 6 March, which will be open unti midday, 4 May. The main purpose of this consultation is to gain insights on how to best improve the effectiveness of public innovation support mechanisms in the EU.

The public consultation consists of two online questionnaires: one is addressed to companies and the other to institutional stakeholders active in the design, funding, implementation, and evaluation of innovation support measures at regional, national and European level, for their opinions on the key issues of better innovation support in Europe.

It is expected that this open consultation will, above all, shed more light on which types of support would create the most impact on companies’ capacities to innovate. While the aim is to improve the effectiveness and accuracy of European innovation support initiatives, the Commission also seeks to advise Member States on how to better focus their innovation support measures in line with the needs and expectations of stakeholders. The results of the consultation shall be summarised in a Commission Staff Working Document scheduled for publication in June 2009. The consultation will also feed into the discussions on the future European Plan for Innovation.

Therefore, this public consultation is a great opportunity for European small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to have their voice heard on the direction of future innovation support policy in the EU. The goal is to reach a large number of respondents, and your support would be highly valued. Hence, we would appreciate it if you could take part in this consultation and enhance its visibility towards SMEs, notably via your respective network with stakeholders.

Thank you very much in advance for your kind cooperation.

Best regards,

European Commission
DG Enterprise & Industry
Unit D.2 Support for innovation