Utrecht, 20 July 2010. With the fall of the Dutch government, the Dutch Innovation Platform was lifted and its members resigned on May 1. The Dutch Innovation Platform and 25 other parties are moving forward and are working together towards ambitions formulated in the Knowledge Investment Agenda (KIA).

Lisbon, 28 July 2010. The Portuguese Government presented on 14th July a set of measures to accelerate the implementation of business projects under the National Strategic Reference Framework (QREN). This includes new financial support measures, the simplification of administrative procedures. 

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QREN - The National Strategic Reference Framework Portugal (document in Portuguese language)

Presentation of the new measures by the Portuguese Government, 14 July 2010 (document in Portuguese language)

Utrecht, 20 July 2010. Up to now, the resources available from the Fund for the Enhancement of the Economic Structure (FES) depended on gas prices and were then allocated in an annual procedure. In order to make investments less dependent on natural gas prices, the conditions of FES will now be revised. There will be a fixed allocation of resources in the future, with an annual minimum of € 1.7 billion in the fund.

Brussels, 28 September 2010 - The first INNO-GRIPS workshop on “Barriers to Internationalisation and Growth of EU’s Innovative Companies” drew 60 interested participants to a debate on the findings of the underlying “Innovation Intelligence Study” prepared by the Austrian Institute of Economic Research, WIFO, and the German Fraunhofer ISI.

The workshop was opened by Peter Dröll, Head of the Innovation Policy Development Unit of the European Commission. Mr Dröll welcomed the many interesting findings of the report and encouraged the researchers to distil the main policy recommendations for innovation and internationalisation at European level. The main findings and conclusions of the 250 pages report were presented by Andreas Reinstaller and the members of the research team followed by a lively discussion focussed on the link between innovation and research, support to SMEs, skills shortages and the right level for internationalisation policy support. Many participants emphasised the need to individualise the internationalisation support according to the size and age of companies, their country of origin and target markets as well as the products and services that are being internationalised. Alison Cavey of Orion Innovations said "In our experience, SMEs in some of the more mature (and conservative) sectors have to look to international markets if they are to make a commercial success of their innovations. In doing so, they often need support to fully understand these end user markets and access to tailor-made support can make a significant difference to their potential for success."

During its 466th plenary session, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) adopted with wide approval a supportive own opinion on the European Commission's Green Paper 'Unlocking the potential of cultural and creative industries'.

The Commission's Green Paper highlights the importance and growth potential of the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) in the European Union. Across the EU, CCIs contribute around 2.6% to the EU GDP and provide quality jobs for around 5 million people. There is much potential in these industries on condition that the key drivers for further development are fostered:

• putting the right enablers in place by increasing the capacity to experiment, innovate and succeed as entrepreneurs, and providing easier access to funding and the right mix of skills;

• helping CCIs develop in their local and regional environment as a launch pad for a stronger global presence, including through increased exchange and mobility; and

• moving towards a creative economy by catalysing the spill-over effects of CCIs on a wide range of economic and social contexts.

January 6, 2011. Earlier this week, President Barack Obama signed the reauthorization of the COMPETES Act, extending the federal competitiveness initiative that provides funding for numerous science, STEM education and commercialization programs. Though the final bill represents a significantly scaled-back version of the legislation passed in May by the House, the final version will allow the programs introduced in the COMPETES Act to continue for another three years. The reauthorization also includes a new regional innovation program to award competitive grants for activities relating to the formation and development of regional innovation clusters.

Romania has decided to invest in the European project of the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) about 289 million euros for the next six years. The financial resources will be mainly attracted from the structural funds that Romania receives in the period 2007-2013, as part of the Cohesion Policy. Romania will cooperate with the Czech Republic and Hungary for this project, as each country will build a pillar of the big European infrastructure project of extreme light, aiming to develop the most powerful laser, ever. The Czech Republic will contribute 260 million and Hungary 189 million euros.

Following up on President Barack Obama's State of the Union pledge to focus on American competitiveness and innovation, the White House announced the Startup America initiative, a program to support and celebrate U.S. entrepreneurs.

On Monday, January 31 a panel of cabinet members, White House officials, executives and economic development leaders provided an outline of the public/private effort, which has already generated $400 million in private commitments. Startup America aims to expand a number of federal programs to provide capital and mentoring services to entrepreneurs, and to create a nationwide partnership that will leverage private sector partners to provide entrepreneurial support resources. The initiative also will support the expansion of several existing TBED-related initiatives across the country.

In 2009, a governmental White Paper addressed the need for increased service innovations in Norway. As a result, the Ministry of Trade and Industry established a forum aimed at reviewing and giving recommendations on how current innovation policy could be adapted to foster such service innovations. The forum included representatives from a wide range of players in the Norwegian innovation system including governmental bodies, academics, businesses, labour unions and sectoral federations. The report resulting from the forum's discussion highlights several measures needed in order to prompt service innovation.

File Attachment: 

Norwegian Innovation Report (2010). [Leo A. Grünfeld, Markus Bugge, Aris Kaloudis (2010): Innovasjon i tjenester. En empirisk analyse av tjenesteinnovasjon i norsk næringsliv og innovasjonspolitikkens utfordringer. MENON-publikasjon nr. 12/2010, Juli 2010]

Malta officially became a member of the “Eurostars” programme, a pan-European initiative spread across 33 countries aimed at stimulating companies leading to an international collaborative research project. With a fund of €400 million, contributed by the participating states and the European Union, the Eurostars initiative brings together companies from different countries to work on market-driven research projects.

The Austrian Government presented on 8 March 2011 its new strategy for research, technology and innovation (RTI). Austria’s declared goal is to move up from an “innovation follower” to the league of “innovation leaders” among the EU Member States. This ambitious objective links directly to the EU’s Innovation Scoreboard of 2010, which ranks Austria among the “innovation followers” (together with the UK, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, France, Cyprus, Slovenia and Estonia). Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Germany are currently the “innovation leaders” in Europe, according to the Scoreboard.

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Potenziale ausschöpfen, Dynamik steigern, Zukunft schaffen. Der Weg zum Innovation Leader. Innovationsstrategie der Bundesregierung (March 2011). The new innovation strategy of the Austrian Government (in German language).

A new report has been released showing Norwegian statistics on R&D expenditures in 2009. R&D activities amounted to 41.9 billion NOK (about 5.4 billion EUR) in 2009, constituting 1.76% of GDP. This is a modest increase in absolute spending of about 3.3% (1.4 billion NOK) compared to 2008, and 12.6% (5.3 billion NOK) compared to 2007. Moreover, R&D activity has increased by 2500 person-years compared to 2007, and the government has bypassed the industry as the main funder of R&D activities in Norway.

The software industry is expected to remain a growth sector in the Finnish economy, with significant impacts on employment and export. A specific advantage of this sector is that it does not critically depend on common infrastructure – software can also be produced in geographically disadvantaged areas. Building on earlier success stories in this segment such as Nokia (software accounts for 50-90% of a mobile phone’s value chain), a lot of innovation support both from the public and private spheres is targeted towards this sector. One of the main measures to address this goal was the founding of Kasvufoorumi – the “Forum for Growth”, which provides services in support of the software industry.

In the presence of European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, three research managers and project coordinators from the universities of Aachen and Dortmund and the Research Centre Jülich were presented with an "FRP. NRW Award” by the Government of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany, on 7th April 2011. The prize is intended to encourage researchers in NRW to participate in European research programmes.

Innovation policy – a powerful toolbox for mitigating climate change

Maastricht, Brussels, 15 April 2011 – Today a new report on “Integrated Innovation Policy for an Integrated Problem: Addressing Climate Change, Resource Scarcity and Demographic Change to 2030” was released. The report concludes that a continuous, coherent, forward-looking process of adaptive policymaking will be vital to a successful energy transition.

The Centre for Nanotechnology and Smart Materials (CeNTI), located in Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal, is a new public-private institute for materials research, development and prototyping. The purpose of the centre is to support companies and their research partners in the development of smart materials, advanced fibres and multi-nanocoatings by providing facilities and expertise that are rarely available inhouse. This reduces the client’s level and risk of capital investment.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu announced that DOE intends to commit up to $130 million to support advanced research projects on rare earth alternatives and breakthroughs in biofuels, thermal storage, grid controls and solar power electronics.

Innovation Norway is cutting costs as a result of the 2011 state budget. One of the most controversial cost-saving measures is the closure of ICT as a prioritized sector for R&D funding.

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) in partnership with 15 other federal agencies and bureaus intends to commit US$ 33 million in direct federal funding and provide technical assistance resources for the “Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge” — a new public-private initiative focused on supporting and accelerating the growth of regional innovation clusters that exhibit high-growth development potential. Approximately 20 industry clusters will be selected through a nationwide competitive process that includes all industry sectors.

The Portuguese regions of Alentejo and Lezíria do Tejo will take major infrastructure measures to strengthen the knowledge and technology transfer within the region. They have launched a programme for the creation of science parks and technology-based incubators.

The influential Dutch Central Planning Bureau (CPB) states in a recent study that it is not possible at this moment to draw any robust quantitative conclusion about the effects of innovation policy on social welfare.

In April 2011, the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research (Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca, MIUR) launched the 2010-2013 research plan. A budget of € 1.7 billion will be provided to support 14 flagship projects in innovative sectors, such as nanotechnologies, aerospace and epigenomics. The projects will focus on developing sectoral technology platforms and infrastructure for supporting the respective value chains. The strategy is based on public-private partnerships, including SMEs.

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Italian National Research Plan 2011-2013

Denmark and China have agreed to expand their research cooperation into the field of basic ICT research. They will jointly establish three new research centres, with the goal to mutually benefit from complementary skills and knowledge.

The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has released a five-year strategic plan for the agency, focused on education and research impact. Under the goals set in the report, NSF would weigh intellectual merit and the broader impacts of research more heavily when evaluating research proposals. The agency also would increase its use of resources, such as the STAR METRICS project, which provide a clearer assessment of the impact of science investments.

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NSF Strategic Plan for the Fiscal Years 2011-2016

Canada faces an innovation imperative. Its lacklustre innovation record stands in the way of all Canadians realising their full prosperity potential. As new governments take the helms federally and in several provinces this year, the Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity urges all Canadians to step up their innovation capabilities to achieve a long-term prosperity agenda.

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Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity - REPORT ON CANADA 2011

The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation has introduced a new policy strategy for promoting innovation with the dedicated goal to become one of the five leading knowledge economies. An essential part of this strategy is to focus exclusively on nine economic sectors – the so called ‘Top Areas’. The Government has set aside € 1.5 billion to increase the competitiveness of these sectors. This approach can be seen as an unexpected break with the egalitarian Dutch tradition of non-discrimination – other sectors will not receive any targeted support anymore.

A new approach to industrial and innovation policy has been implemented in the biomedical industry in Italy, involving Confindustria Firenze, the Tuscany branch of the Italian Industry Association, and Banca CR Firenze-Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo. Stakeholders signed a “network contract” to foster innovation and competitiveness of SMEs which are part of the value chain of Esaote, a large producer of medical diagnostic systems. This contract goes beyond the usual ways of cooperation among firms in the same district; it aims to leverage the leading role of a large enterprise to the benefit of the whole network. Under the “umbrella” of Esaote, SMEs shall enhance their competitiveness – on the market and in negotiations with banks.

An independent jury selected on 22 June 2011 the eleven finalists for the third and last round of the Leading-Edge Cluster Competition of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The winners – up to 5 clusters in total – will be funded with up to € 80 million for strategic development over a period of five years. On this occasion, Ms Annette Schavan, Minister for Research, praised the competitiveness and diversity of Germany’s innovation system.

How to feed “gazelles” and “gorillas” best

For fostering high growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a new INNO-Grips study suggests a comprehensive approach promoting certified coaching, access to equity finance, and internationalisation – and removing incentives to stay small.

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INNO-Grips Policy Brief No. 2: Policies in support of high-growth innovative SMEs

The Maltese Government increases research and innovation investments despite difficult framework conditions and prepares the launch of a consultation process with key stakeholders to develop its National R&I Strategy 2011-2020.

A new governmental report makes suggestions how to adapt and innovate the Norwegian R&D strategy in the field of sustainable energy. The report emphasizes six areas where Norway has competitive advantages which should be exploited to the economic and environmental benefit of the country. In addition, the report suggests to increase government spending in this area by about €106 million to stimulate innovation in the energy sector.

The Austrian Government has published the 2011 edition of the annual “Research and Technology Report”. According to the report, total R&D expenditure in Austria in 2011 is estimated at €8.3 billion, an increase by 5% compared to 2010. This corresponds to 2.79% of GDP. The declared goal of the government is to increase R&D expenditures to 3.76% of GDP by 2020.

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Forschungs- und Technologiebericht 2011 (Austrian Research and Technology Report - 2011 edition)

Malta recommends that EU funding for research and development should not only support the transition from research to innovation but also from ideas to innovation. The country sees the integration of different EU funding programmes for research and innovation into the “Common Strategic Framework” as an opportunity to unlock and maximise the research and innovation potential in the 12 “new” EU Member States that have joined the EU since 2004.

The Portuguese government has approved the performance report of the “Competitiveness Factors Operational Programme” (COMPETE) for the year 2010. The results indicate, in spite of all constraints, a significant acceleration in the implementation of COMPETE. Funds approved in 2010 amounted to € 820 million; thus, in total, about 80% of the programme’s funds for the period 2007-13 have now been consumed.

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COMPETE Implementation Report (Vol. I)

COMPETE Implementation Report (Vol. II)

The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) declared the Eindhoven Region of the Netherlands as the world’s Intelligent Community of the Year 2011 during its annual awards ceremony in Brooklyn, New York (USA). The Eindhoven Region was praised for its ability to compete with fast-growing manufacturing centers in low-cost countries by focusing on producing high-value, technology-based products. Also the public-private partnership, ‘Brainport Development’, was named as a good initiative of making the region economically and socially attractive.

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Report Card: Intelligent Community Awards Programme, prepared by Robert Bell, Co-Founder, 30 June 2011, for: Eindhoven, Netherlands

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Corps (I-Corps) programme, a public-private partnership, intends to connect NSF-funded scientific research with a project team, made up of professionals from the technological, entrepreneurial and business communities, to help transition NSF-funded scientific and engineering discoveries at institutions of higher education into commercial technologies, products and processes. I-Corps grants will provide financial support to project teams in determining the commercialization potential of the technologies developed through previous or current NSF awards.

In an update of their 2009 The Atlantic Century report, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation reports that the USA continues to rank fourth in innovation-based competitiveness and second-to-last in innovative progress. Among the 43 nations included in the study, only Italy ranked lower than the USA in improving their innovative competitiveness. Certain US regions performed much better than the country as a whole. For example, Massachusetts, if taken as an independent economy, would rank as the most innovative economy in the world.

The International Competitiveness Strategy for the Czech Republic 2012-2020, prepared by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, aims at safeguarding and stimulating the competitiveness of the Czech Republic in the future. The Strategy calls the attention to fostering innovation because the Czech business sector has so far a very limited demand for innovation.

Design has increasingly become a strategic element in innovation processes in private enterprises and public organizations. The Danish government expects design to become an even more powerful driver of innovation in the future. In the autumn of 2010, the government set up a group to articulate a vision for the future – “Design 2020”. The purpose was to suggest how design can be strengthened and used in order to contribute to growth, productivity, and innovation – areas in which Denmark faces substantial challenges in the years to come as a result of the increasing globalization

At the end of September 2011, the Minister of Economy of Lithuania and Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour of Israel agreed upon that a bilateral working group will be set up with the aim of supporting the implementation specific R&D and innovation related projects.

The White House released a progress report for “Startup America” —a White House and interagency initiative to "celebrate, inspire and accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship throughout the nation." The Small Business Administration also released a report that describes ideas expressed by participants during the eight "Startup America: Reducing Barriers" roundtable events and from an online suggestion portal.

Ministry of Industry and Trade has jointly presented the new ChechInvest strategy whose main aim is to support innovation, trigger sophisticated investments and to serve as a catalyst of the development of the knowledge-based economy.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced that it will award USD 74 million (EUR 55 million) total for the creation of four interdisciplinary research and education centres as part of the third generation of NSF Engineering Research Centers. In addition to their primary focus on commercialization and education, these centres will emphasise innovation, entrepreneurship, small business collaboration, and international partnerships.

For the first time, two of the ERCs will be co-funded by the Department of Energy. One, led by Arizona State University, will investigate quantum energy and sustainable solar technologies. A second at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville will develop more reliable and efficient electricity transmission networks. The other two ERCs will focus on research into urban water infrastructure and mind-machine interface at Stanford University and the University of Washington, respectively.

In the period July-September 2011, several major innovation- and technology-focused conferences and workshops were held in Israel. They discussed the innovation and research demand of the industry and resulting implications for policy: how to promote innovation in different fields and industrial sectors. This article reviews some of the recent events.

The funds distributed as a support for goal-oriented projects (OP IE 1.4) have proven a great success of the Operational Programme Innovative Economy. They have also contributed to the tightening of the bonds between Polish entrepreneurs and the R&D sector. The support under OP IE 1.4 has allowed entrepreneurs, among other things, to develop an innovative EKG apparatus, a system for measuring the efficiency of wind turbines, a special type of glass for greenhouse farming or an environment-friendly heat and power plant.

Finland improves its governmental services which target growth and internationalisation of young technology companies. The initiative is based on recent success stories from the Finnish gaming industry and the recognition of growth companies as the backbone of the future economy.

To ensure manufacturers have access to the skills they need to remain at the forefront of advanced manufacturing, the UK Government has launched the initiative “See Inside Manufacturing”. Companies in the UK automotive industry are opening their doors to give students the chance to see one of the UK's vanguard industries and learn more about careers.

A new, comprehensive study by Nordic Innovation warns against a lack of focus on innovation in Norway, both in government and business. The study concludes that Norwegian policy makers as well as business leaders often have a narrow and traditional perception of innovation. At the same time, the identified weaknesses indicate that there is an untapped innovation potential in Norway, if the weaknesses can be addressed and overcome.

Three American universities plan to foster innovation and grow regional economies setting up some well endowed initiatives. Michigan State University, Rutgers University and the University of Michigan all have announced new projects which are intended to fuel innovation and grow regional economies.

The German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH) have jointly organised an international symposium to discuss suitable mechanisms of innovation funding in support of SMEs in the regions. The symposium was hosted by ZDH in Berlin and took place on 14th October 2011, in the context of the European SME Week.

A newly established policy academy providing guidance and technical assistance will help seven U.S. states improve their environment for innovation and align state R&D investments, workforce development and education systems with current and future needs of advanced manufacturing industries. The policy academy will help each state develop a plan or overcome barriers for putting a plan into action through a highly interactive team-based process. Participating states include Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania.

A study released by the Danish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education found that small and medium-sized enterprises in Denmark have difficulties accessing research results, patents, technical reports and other market intelligence. The study, conducted by the Centre for Strategic Economic Studies at Victoria University and Key Perspectives Ltd., concludes that easier and cheaper access of SMEs to research will stimulate both innovation and growth.

The Obama administration recently announced two directives to accelerate the commercialisation of research and provide small businesses with streamlined access to federal resources. In his announcement, President Obama tied the directives to his administration's recent jobs push, and noted the need to bypass Congress in order to quickly implement the changes.

The Conference Board of Canada is establishing the Centre for Business Innovation (CBI) as a five-year initiative to help bring about major improvements in firm-level business innovation in Canada. Positive results will help Canada become a world leader in this area, thereby boosting its competitiveness.

In his 2012 R&I Programme, the Malta Council for Science and Technology has announced a number of collaborative industry-academia projects, which include a system that produces electricity from wave energy and the promotion of offshore solar technology.

The Estonian capital, Tallinn has hosted an event which provided an opportunity for prime ministers of Baltic countries to discuss issues related to strategic cooperation in the near future such as the Rail Baltic project, energy sector as well as the establishment of a Digital Single Market.

Lithuania has been promoting various kinds of innovation in this year especially by organising conferences to attract relevant actors and to bring the message of good practices throughout the country.

President Obama has announced the Health Care Innovation Challenge — a USD 1 billion initiative (about EUR 750 million) to support the most compelling new ideas to deliver better health, improve care and lower costs to people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and/or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Individual awards will range from approximately USD 1-30 million (EUR 750,000 – 22.5 million). Letters of intent are due on 19 December 2011.

Finland is increasingly recognising the importance of “gazelles” – i.e. fast-growing small and medium-sized companies – for sustaining prosperity and wealth in the future. The Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy has now published its first review on the situation of growth enterprises in Finland. This report shall be published annually from now on.

With nearly € 70 billion, public and private R&D expenditures reached a new all time high in Germany in 2010. This includes € 49 billion expenditures of the private sector for internal R&D activities, an increase of 3.7% compared to 2009.

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Report published by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.

The Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications has published a press release on the basis of the revised statistical data of the Statistics Estonia about the trends and status of R&D expenditures.

Established in 2007, the National Centre for Research and Development has played a key role in implementing the Polish innovation policy this year. Since the introduction of the science system reform, the Centre has been responsible for creating programmes and financing projects related to application research, for attaining the objectives of the National Research Programme adopted this year, as well as for spending of the EU R&D funds.

Several universities announced new initiatives to foster innovation and build entrepreneurial capacity that are intended to spur regional and state economic growth, including Auburn breaking ground on a new $28.8 million science centre; Harvard's Innovation Lab opening its doors; and the LaunchPad Ohio announcement at four universities in Northeast Ohio.

"Fast-growing economies in emerging markets are outpacing more developed countries with respect to investment in innovation," according to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers. The report also found that a lack of adequate intellectual property protections in developing countries is the biggest threat to the U.S. as the global leader of innovation.

Ontario gets by on hard work, rather than innovation, according to a new report that says Ontario's economic stature continues to slip within North America. That comes from the Task Force on Competitiveness, Productivity and Economic Progress, an independent body that tracks the province's economic progress. The report labeled Ontario one of the most prosperous regions among advanced economic nations around the world, outpacing most of its peers in Europe, Japan and Australia in per capita GDP.

Last week the board of Connecticut Innovations (CI), operating at the State of Connecticut level matching state funds to expand access to capital programmes and launching new initiatives supporting tech transfer efforts, announced the deployment of $250 million over five years.  These funds will be used for activities including SBIR assistance, establishing three technology accelerator hubs and recruiting emerging tech companies nationally and internationally.

The Israeli Chief Scientist Office (CSO), a technology agency under the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, has been criticised that its funding programmes in support of the Israeli industry are inefficient and do not have the expected positive impact on the economy.

In the framework of the "Investissements d'Avenir" funding scheme ("Future Investments"), collaborative research between industry and the public sector is rewarded in key industry sectors. Two new technology research institutes were recently awarded €460 million to advance research in the internet of the future and advanced systems engineering.

The Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) has published the main results of the Innovation Survey 2011, the largest national survey on innovation activities of companies, which is part of the EU’s Community Innovation Survey (CIS). According to the survey, German enterprises invested € 121.3 billion in 2010 in the development and introduction of new products and processes, an increase by 8% compared to 2009, but still below the peak value of 2008 (€ 125.9 billion). Estimates given by companies for their investments in 2011 indicate that a new all-time-high may have been reached last year (figures are still to be validated in the forthcoming survey).

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Results of the German Innovation Survey 2011

In Finland, on the whole, unemployment is decreasing. In contrast to the general trend, however, unemployment of people who planned for a career in research (holding an academic doctorate or licentiate degree) increases. How come this can be the case in a country that has traditionally built its competitiveness on high-level education and skills?

A further call for proposals with a focus on R&D and innovation projects has recently been launched by Malta Enterprise for 5 incentive schemes under the so-called “20-Million-For-Industry” umbrella programme.

A contribution of $4.2 million CAN (around € 3.2 million) by FedDev Ontario will be used to place 320 recent graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields with businesses in a competitive six-month internship and mentorship programme. The idea is to provide graduates with real world opportunities to develop business skills and experience. The graduates will be matched with small- and medium-sized enterprises in southern Ontario.

Though California remains the leading state for U.S. angel investment, 79 percent of angel deals and 70 percent of angel dollars were invested outside of the state in 2011, according to the first edition of the new Halo Report. The report, produced by the Angel Resource Institute, Silicon Valley Bank and CB Insights, also found that the median size of angel and angel group syndicate rounds increased by 40 percent between 2010 and 2011, from US$ 500,000 to $700,000 (€ 380,000 to 530,000).

File Attachment: 

Angel Groups were Active Throughout the U.S. in 2011

California Leads the Pack in Share of Total 2011 Dollars

Median Angel Round Size is $700K in 2011

Median Round Size is $1.5 Million when Angel Groups Co-Invest

The 2012 report of Germany’s Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation has brought forward proposals to foster the increasingly strong innovative trend in the country’s economy. The report suggests targeting institutions of higher education and start up businesses, as well as amendments to the tax system and a gradual reorganisation of the demographics of the working population as measures that could boost innovation . The opportunities for innovation presented by future energy policy and the country’s relationship with China are discussed also.

The German Federal Government decided to provide funding to four regions for showcasing innovation in e-mobility. This activity is part of the government’s “e-mobility programme” initially launched in May 2011. It has a total budget of up to € 180 million to promote the uptake of e-mobility through various actions. 

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Regierungsprogramm Elektromobilität, 2011 (Government Programme in Support of e-Mobility). In German (PDF document).

The Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology has launched the “Market Bonus” initiative which supports small and medium-sized enterprises in entering new markets with an innovative product or service. Companies receive a grant of € 10,000 for marketing their innovation.

Tekes, the Finnish governmental agency for innovation, released a report which summarises evaluation studies about the effects of Tekes’ activities. The report shows that Finnish companies receive little public funding in comparison to other European countries; nonetheless, the funding schemes are effective and have a significant impact on economic growth and innovation, as they encourage R&D activity and collaboration with research institutes. The focus in recent years on young growth companies and energy technology are accentuated as success stories.

The SBA announced Supplier Connection, a private-public collaboration intended to help small businesses strengthen their revenue streams by gaining access to more than $300 billion (€227 billion) in combined supply chain spending by a consortium of 15 of America's largest corporations. Supplier Connection, a free online portal created by the IBM Foundation, allows small businesses to send information about their products and services to 15 large private sector companies.

A recently released governmental White Paper defines new goals and strategic priorities for Innovation Norway and SIVA, the two main innovation agencies of the government. The agencies shall focus their activities on supporting the following strategic objectives: (1) more Norwegian entrepreneurs and start-ups, (2) more companies going international and (3) more user friendly governmental services for the private sector.