Smart economy targets for EU

The European Commission has warned that the eurozone must "foster innovation" if it is to compete successfully over the next decade. The warning comes after the unveiling of the new Europe 2020 strategy, which sets "smart economy" targets for the region.

The Europe 2020 strategy will now replace the EU's Lisbon Strategy, which has failed to make Europe the most dynamic knowledge-based economy by 2010.

Under the terms of the new plan, the commission advises that the EU should invest three percent of GDP in research and development and aim for so-called "smart" growth.

Market share

The call for the new plan comes as Asian competitors continue to take a significant proportion of market share from many European businesses.

"We [now] need to invest in smart, sustainable and inclusive growth," detailed Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso. "We need to concentrate our efforts on the most important levers," he said, highlighting the dangers associated with spreading EU resources too thinly.

He also expressed concern over how the economic crisis over the last two years had literally "wiped away" much of the growth that had previously been generated by the European economy in the decade before.

Now, to combat the recession, the commission - which covers the executive arm of the EU - has placed a number of targets as part of their new strategy to ensure growth returns to the region. Such measures include, 75 percent of the EU population aged 20-64 to be in jobs; share of early school leavers to be under 10 percent and at least 40 percent of younger generations to have a degree or diploma; the quicker roll-out of high-speed internet connections across the EU; and to have 20 million fewer people to face the risk of poverty.

Patent system

"It is not acceptable in the modern age that nearly 80 million people in Europe live under the poverty line," Mr. Barroso said in a statement yesterday, adding that the launch of an EU-wide patent system could save companies 289 million euros annually - though as yet no target date has been set for such a system.

The commission also noted that firms currently face translation costs of about 3000 euros on each patent, making them 13 times more expensive in the EU than in the US, adding that by sticking to the EU's low-carbon energy targets the region would save 60 billion euros in oil and gas imports by 2020.

Matthew Buttell

Matt Buttell graduated from Bath Spa University in 2006. Since then he has written for several publications, before moving to the web. He now writes solely for the internet, continuing to cover key business issues while managing his own personal blog.

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