LAB – FAB – APP. Investing in the European future we want. Report of the independent High Level Group on maximising the impact of EU Research & Innovation Programmes [Chairman: Pascal Lamy]

Background

In September 2016 the European Commission set up a High Level Group of experts, following an online call for expression of interest to which over 350 candidates responded. In the context of the interim evaluation of Horizon 2020, the Group's mandate is to provide advice on how to maximise the impact of the EU's investment in research and innovation. The group is chaired by Pascal Lamy, President Emeritus of the Jacques Delors Institute. It consists of 12 personalities appointed in a personal capacity. The group started its work in December 2016.

The High Level Group report was published on 3 July 2017, on the occasion of the 'Research & Innovation – Shaping our Future' conference in Brussels.

The Group proposed eleven recommendations:

+ Prioritise research and innovation in EU and national budgets, including a doubling of the budget of the post-2020 EU research and innovation programme
+ Build a true EU innovation policy that creates future markets
+ Educate for the future and invest in people who will make the change
+ Design the EU R&I programme for greater impact
+ Adopt a mission-oriented, impact-focused approach to address global challenges
+ Rationalise the EU funding landscape and achieve synergy with structural funds
+ Simplify further, privilege impact over process
+ Mobilise and involve citizens
+ Better align EU and national R&I investment
+ Make international R&I cooperation a trademark of EU research and innovation
+ Capture and better communicate impact
The main message, and vision, of the High Level Group was that investing in research and innovation was increasingly crucial for shaping a better European future in a rapidly globalising world, where success depended ever more on the production and use of knowledge.

Europe must capitalise better on the knowledge it produces, and turn its innovation potential into economic growth. Research and innovation should be prioritised in EU and national budgets, with a doubling of the budget of the successor to Horizon 2020, the current EU research and innovation programme. And it should involve citizens in addressing global challenges through broadly mobilising innovation missions.

European Commission: Research & Innovation: Evaluations: H2020 Evaluation: Stakeholder consultation: High Level Group on maximising impact of EU Research and Innovation Programmes http://ec.europa.eu/research/evaluations/index_en.cfm?pg=hlg

LERU: News, 03.07.17: LERU wants more for EU research and innovation than 'Lab-fab-app' http://www.leru.org/news/leru-wants-more-for-eu-research-and-innovation-than-lab-fab-app

Social Europe, 11.12.17: Market Innovation? Four Questions On The Lamy Report https://www.socialeurope.eu/market-innovation-four-questions-on-the-lamy-report

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