For economy and society

Innovation and competitiveness, cultural and social initiatives and solidarity programs implemented by Europe’s "foundations". A few days ago the EU Commission addressed two very different issues, which confirm the multifarious interests, objectives and actions tackled within EU seats. Europe lags behind. On February 7 the EU Commission presented the Innovation Union Scoreboard 2011. Accordingly, Sweden ranks first in Europe, thanks to the enhancement of three crucial areas, namely, human resources, public funding, firms’ innovation activities. The Scoreboard registers slight improvements at EU level in this area, as well as a slowdown across Europe compared to other global competitors such as the United States, Japan and South Korea. However EU27 still maintains a lead in this particular "classification", based on 24 indicators, over the emerging economies of China, Brazil, India, Russia, and South Africa. Although, experts warn, China is progressively catching up. Within the EU, Sweden is followed closely by Denmark, Germany and Finland. The factors that determine the economic innovation performance of a country include, inter alia, human resources, "open, excellent and attractive research systems", and public and private financing for innovation, private sector innovation, and employment. "Generating excellence". "We urgently need a European Research Area to inject fresh competition, generate more excellence, and attract and retain the best global talent “, said Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science. The EU Commission report stresses: "Countries at the top of the ranking for the composite innovation indicator share a number of strengths in their national research and innovation systems with a key role of business activity and public-private collaboration". According to the Scoreboard, apart from the four "innovation leaders", other countries are marked by a heterogeneous situation. The "countries that keep step" are Belgium, the UK, Netherlands, Austria, Luxembourg, Ireland, France, Slovenia, Cyprus and Estonia, with "a performance close to that of the EU27 average". The so-called Moderate Innovators – that perform below that of the EU27 average – are: Italy, Portugal, Czech Republic, Spain, Hungary, Greece, Malta Slovakia and Poland. Those definitely "lagging behind" are Romania, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Latria, whose results are well below that of the EU27 average". European foundations. "We need to support and encourage the valuable work that foundations do for European citizens. In particular, we need to remove the obstacles which hinder their cross-border work on issues such as research, health or culture", said Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier, who on February 8 presented the Executive’s proposal for a European Foundation Statute to "make it easier for foundations to support public benefit causes across the EU". Thus acknowledged the social and cultural contribution of foundations in EU Member States, the proposal "seeks to create a single European legal form", – the ‘European Foundation’ (FE) – which would be fundamentally the same in all Member States. It would exist in parallel with domestic foundations. Acquiring the status of a European Foundation would be entirely voluntary but it would allow foundations to benefit from more "visibility" and less red tape throughout the EU. Overcoming barriers. Foundations – Barnier said –pursue objectives benefiting the public at large. Their activities focus on areas that are important for European citizens and the European economy". For instance, "they are active in social and health services; they foster research and promote culture". To meet these targets, "foundations award grants and run projects. However, differences between and obstacles in national laws often make the conduct of their cross-border activities costly and cumbersome". When they decide to operate abroad, for example, foundations "often have to spend a part of their resources on legal advice and fulfilling legal and administrative requirements laid down by the different national laws across the EU. This diminishes the amount of funding available to foundations for the purpose of activities benefiting the public at large". Barnier explained the technical and legal details of the proposal. He concluded: "The introduction of a European Statute will reduce costs and uncertainty. It will also allow foundations to benefit from more visibility to promote their activity and attract more funding thanks to a European label".