Call for experts for the Expert Panel on Services Innovation in the EU
The recent Commission Staff Working Document on ‘Challenges for EU support to innovation in services – Fostering new markets and jobs through innovation’ recognizes that a European approach that brings together different methods and instruments to enable a strategic and coherent policy approach to services innovation is needed. This would also allow for better synergies between instruments (at activity, firm, sectoral and market level) and serve common objectives.
To address this need, the European Commission has decided to establish an Expert Panel on Services Innovation in the EU, whose mandate it will be to explore how the policy challenges can be addressed, at which level and through which policy means and, where relevant, through which (financial) instruments . It is a high-level strategic Panel, which aims to produce recommendations that will have a significant impact on the future development of the services innovation agenda in Europe. Its aim is, in particular, to help provide expert input on how to shape new and innovative service markets and sectors in Europe, by providing innovative service companies with better innovation support.
Given the tasks of the Panel, all experts will be expected to have a deep understanding of innovation policy development, with a particular expertise on innovation in services. This will require an understanding of, and expertise in, assessing best use of policy instruments and activities, understanding policy rationale, understanding the European policy dimension and collaboration, and an ability to assess the best use and best value of given policies.
A call for experts has been launched to recruit suitable candidates for the Panel. Candidates will preferably be policy makers, representatives of innovation agencies and other innovation support providers. They can also be consultants, representatives of relevant labour and employee organisations, interest organisations and researchers. Candidates are particularly welcome if they can show evidence of political support for their candidature.
The call for experts in open until 26 February 2010.
The call text and related documents are available here:
- Call for experts: Expert Panel on Services Innovation in the EU
- Application overview form
- EU-CV Template
Europe INNOVA Annual Partnering Event 2010 - Call for expressions of interest
In September 2009, Heraklion attracted around 200 Europe INNOVA stakeholders for the Annual Partnering event which marked the launch of the 2nd generation of Europe INNOVA Platforms and partnerships. The event proved an excellent opportunity to identify synergies between the Innovation Platforms and establish collaboration amongst the platforms and with other European initiatives, notably PRO INNO Europe®.
The Europe INNOVA Annual Partnering Event 2010, scheduled to take place at the beginning of June 2010, aims at presenting the first observations and intermediary results of the projects and at discussing the practical actions projects propose in order to help innovative enterprises innovate faster and better.
The Annual Partnering Event is a two-day meeting which gathers around 200 participants from all over Europe, combining a number of parallel and plenary sessions as well as side events and informal meetings. Previous Annual Partnering Events proved to be virtual hotspots for innovation support practitioners to network, learn about the latest developments in innovation and to exchange information with their peers.
A key element for a successful event is a committed city, region or organisation willing to host and sponsor the event. For this, the host is expected to contribute financially to the organisation of the event by providing the venue, local transport and catering. Also, sponsorship could be sought for the conference programme and other marketing material. The host may contribute to defining the conference programme and may choose to extend or combine the event with study visits, a fair or exhibition or a social programme immediately preceding or following the Annual Partnering Event. Should you be interested in hosting the Annual Partnering Event 2010, the deadline for responding is set for 1 March 2010.
Platforms and partnerships wishing to take advantage of the Annual Partnering Event to hold consortia meetings may do so at their own cost - all requests will be coordinated by Europe INNOVA Communications.
Click to view/download the Specifications and Requirements for the Annual Partnering Event 2010.
For more information and expression of interest please contact:
Agis Evrigenis on behalf of Europe INNOVA Communications.
Kifissias 220, 15231
Athens, Greece
Tel: +30 210 6777805
Mob: +30 697 6868105
E-mail: europe-innova@logotech.gr or evrigenis@logotech.gr
Europe INNOVA and PRO INNO Europe® review their Communications
Around 30 representatives from Europe INNOVA and PRO INNO Europe® projects met on 18 January for the very first time, in a joint Communications Seminar, organised by DG Enterprise and Industry.
The seminar was facilitated by Tony Bass, a Senior Lecturer, and seconded National Expert at the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA), in Maastricht. In the course of the day, he took the participants through the key aspects and techniques of a successful communications strategy.
But what was the purpose of this seminar, and why now? As Reinhard Büscher, Head of the ‘Support for Innovation Unit’ of DG Enterprise and Industry said “Both initiatives, Europe INNOVA and Pro INNO Europe®, receive lots of attention and are very popular and that is why effective communication matters to all of us and to do it properly we must understand its complexity.”
During the day, participants considered everything from the basic principles of communication to its much more intricate techniques. They worked together in small groups sharing their experiences in communications and discussing the main issues that their respective projects were facing such as:
- What’s my message?
- What’s my target audience?
- What’s the best channel to reach this audience?
- How should I tailor my message so that it suits both the audience and the channel?
They also had an opportunity to practise their communication skills in both oral presentations and interviews. From these exercises, it was possible to extract, and also to demonstrate, a series of tips on ‘dos and don’ts’ and this session emphasised, in particular, the need to be well prepared and also the importance of using everyday language rather than jargon when speaking about the projects’ aims, aspirations and methods.
By the end of the seminar, participants were more aware of their communications needs and target audiences, and also had a better idea of how to ‘relay’ their messages more effectively.
