Leaders’ chance to heed wealth providers

Date: 11/03/04

THE timing of next week's European Business Summit is impeccable - just a few short days before the EU's fickle leaders meet in Brussels to renew their "Lisbon Agenda" vows yet again.

Of course, the European Council on 25 March ought to be the place to be. But the EU's democratic deficit means none of the business executives, researchers, academics and entrepreneurs will be able to get a ticket to sit beside Bertie Ahern or Messrs Blair and Berlusconi as they kick-start the economic reforms launched four years ago in the Portuguese capital.

Instead, Didier Malherbe, founder and managing director of the biennial European Business Summit, invites us to attend his event on 11-12 March - the third since it was launched in 2000.

The Belgian says the big issue this year will be research and innovation - areas where Europe has the potential to be a world leader, given the right political steer from the people at the cutting edge.

The event, he hopes, will deliver a focussed message to leaders that they need to act now before it is too late - and the Lisbon process is consigned to the EU's graveyard of big ideas.

"The aim is to raise awareness among political and business decision-makers about the link between employment growth in the hi-tech sector and growth in overall employment," said Malherbe.

"Indeed it is now widely believed that creating jobs in the hi-tech sector helps to create jobs in general, involving a wide range of skills."

One priority is to try and get rid of the way research and innovation is given "niche status" by policymakers, including at EU level.

"It is essential," he claims, "that the policies followed in other sectors - such as the environment, energy, internal market and education - do not clip the wings of the Community's research and innovation work. On the contrary, all European and national level policies should be geared to supporting and promoting the development of such initiatives."

That message is given a resounding endorsement from his compatriot, Philippe Busquin, the commissioner for research.

"Europe has set itself an ambitious goal: to become the most competitive knowledge based economy in the world. Research and innovation are determining factors in meeting that goal," said Busquin, who steps down in November after five years spent undoing the damage to the research portfolio that was wreaked by his shamed predecessor Edith Cresson.

"EU heads of state and government agree that the investments in research and development should reach 3% of GDP by 2010. Two-thirds of the effort will have to be delivered by the business world.

"If we want to boost research efforts in Europe, we need to have an open debate with all parties involved. Policymakers should listen to the needs of the business world, business leaders should explore ways to intensify the cooperation between industry and public research and scientists should feel better rewarded in Europe," he said.

Despite the impressive CVs of some of the speakers, conferences such as this often merely provide the opportunity to swap business cards and ideas over coffee and cake. Few lessons are ever learned in keynote addresses written by press officers and delivered by tired bosses reading their words for the first time.

Nevertheless, we see a few obvious highlights. You can view Portugal's António Vitorino - the commissioner for justice and home affairs, and more importantly, considered by some to be the Commission president- in-waiting, who will be speaking on defence and "working together for a better Europe".

Rainer Hertrich, chief executive of European aerospace giant EADS, is obviously worth hearing, as is Tom McKillop, the insomniac Scot who runs Anglo-Swedish drugs manufacturer AstraZeneca.

Solvay President Daniel Janssen, a member of influential European Round Table of Industrialists will come to the event armed with a hard-hitting report on research policy ultimately destined for the prime ministers' desks.

Last, but not least, Jürgen Strube, a German business icon and president of UNICE, will be the voice of reason at the business summit.

Malherbe told EU-funded research website Cordis that his dream "would be not having to organize future events because the mutual understanding between business and politics was perfect". "But for now," he concluded, "this remains just a dream."

We are not sure we totally believe him.

Hefty admission fees of €980 - unless you qualify for one of the cut-price €490 offers - would pay for a lot of research.

Of course, business and R&D folks could resort to a mass sit down protest outside the Council of Ministers building, with loud hailers and drums.

It worked for the French a fortnight ago. Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin responded to a Paris protest with an extra €3 billion science funding by 2007.

Let's face it, the French (and their farmers) have always done this sort of thing. But can you expect German executives from Siemens following suit?

No. So, until the EU finds a better way to pay heed to the needs of its wealth providers, there will always be a place for the European Business Summit.

Preview of the European Business Summit which took place in Brussels from 11-12 March 2004.

http://www.ebsummit.org/ http://www.ebsummit.org/

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