EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science and Minister President of Baden-Württemberg Speak at SEEK Kick-Off Conference at ZEW

"Baden-Württemberg has become one of the most dynamic places in Europe, and is strongly committed to keeping its leading position as a region of innovation by maintaining investment in education and research," Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science said while visiting the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW). Together with Stefan Mappus, Minister President of Baden-Württemberg, she visited the kick-off conference of the SEEK research programme at ZEW in Mannheim. On 4-5 March 2011, some 200 participants from 20 countries discussed about knowledge and innovation as the basis for sustainable and smart growth in Germany and Europe.

Geoghegan-Quinn called Baden-Württemberg a "leading powerhouse of innovation in and for Europe". The launch of the research programme "Strengthening Efficiency and Competitiveness in the European Knowledge Economies" (SEEK), which is financed by the state of Baden-Württemberg, demonstrates an ambition to keep the region among the leading knowledge-based economies in Europe. SEEK is not only important for Baden-Württemberg but also for Europe as a whole because it makes a considerable contribution to strengthening high-quality economic research. The EU Commissioner considers the topic of the first SEEK conference, namely generating growth based on knowledge and innovation a burning issue. Thus, the innovation union is at the heart of the EU’s growth strategy Europe 2020. In the next few years, Europe is to close up to the USA and Japan, and maintain its competitiveness in comparison with emerging economies like China, India or Brazil.

Minister President Stefan Mappus also pointed out that a strategy for growth and competitiveness in Europe was necessary. According to him, Europe is currently not at its best. This is not only a consequence of the financial and economic crisis but also the public deficit and demographic change are burdens for Europe. Thus, in the future, Europe has to rely on growth and innovation more than ever. Especially the latter has great importance for the performance and competitiveness in knowledge-based societies. To achieve growth and competitiveness, and at the same time avoid undesirable developments and pave the way, the economy and politics depend on scientific sound policy advising. The SEEK programme is to contribute to this. The Innovation Council Baden-Württembergl recommended that the state funded the programme. Hence, the state is to invest 7.5 million euros in the SEEK programme, which tackles the important topic of research and innovation from different angles.

ZEW President Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolfgang Franz thanked the state of Baden-Württemberg for financing the SEEK programme. SEEK aims at fostering the close cooperation on international level, with special focus on Europe. This could then be used for profound policy advising.

The first conference day was rounded off with a panel discussion on knowledge and innovation as driving forces for sustainable and smart growth. Discussion participants were Andrew W. Wyckoff (Director of OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry), David C. Mowery (University of Berkeley Haas School of Buisness), Georg Schütte (State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research) and Dietmar Harhoff (LMU Munich, Director of INNO-tec).

The second conference day was devoted to science. Thirty scientific lectures and two keynote speeches by the international renowned researchers Philippe Aghion (Harvard University) and Bronwyn Hall (University of California, Berkeley, and Maastricht University) addressed the great variety and interdependence of innovation and growth in knowledge-based economies. Discussion topics were, among others, the significance of the information society and information and communication technologies for innovation skills and competitiveness, patent systems, environmental innovations, government funding for innovations, and labour market effects of innovations. The central theme was how innovation and knowledge can contribute to sustainable and smart growth or how they had to be designed to make such contributions.

For further information please contact

Gunter Grittmann, Phone +49 621/1235-132, E-mail grittmann@zew.de