Nachrichten

Luxembourg, 20 - 21 May 1996

The European Commission (DG XIII) and the Statistical Office of the European Communities (EUROSTAT) are organizing an international conference, entitled "Innovation Measurement and Policies", due to be held in Luxembourg on 20-21 May 1996.

Technological innovation is a prime factor for sustainable growth and competitiveness of enterprises world-wide and innovation measurement is becoming an important tool for strategic decisions at enterprise and public policy level. Over the past years, considerable effort has been devoted to the development and use of specific indicators for measuring innovation in firms. Wide discussions have been held on how to use these indicators for policy measures. This increased interest has also revealed gaps in the data presently available as well as the indicators and methods developed.

Community Innovation Survey

The Community Innovation Survey (CIS) is a new Commission action aimed at defining and measuring innovation in a comparable and comprehensive way throughout the Union. Over 40,000 enterprises have participated in this experiment in measuring innovation processes in manufacturing and services in most Member States. The Commission has launched twelve large-scale projects to exploit this information in order to provide a global picture of the innovative performance of European enterprises.

The conference will deal with the development and use of innovation indicators, their relevance to innovation promotion and policy, and the need for new indicators to support sustainable policy developments in this area. The objective is to build on the lessons learned from past experience and move towards improved tools and policies. The event is aimed at policy makers, academics, consultants and managers concerned with the different aspects of innovation. Speakers will include practitioners, policy makers, academics and analysts.

The themes to be covered are:

_ The innovative landscape in Europe;

_ The innovative capacity of different sectors in Europe;

_ Innovation, growth and employment;

_ The measurement of intangible assets;

_ Implications for innovation policy;

_ Technology transfer and collaboration in Europe;

_ Corporate innovative behaviour;

_ Barriers to innovation;

_ Measurement and innovation policy;

_ Innovation survey techniques;

_ Analyzing Community innovation survey data;

_ Pitfalls in measuring innovative activities inside enterprises.

(Source: CORDIS focus)

For further information, please contact

Conference Secretariat Innovation
Measurement and Policies
Jean Monnet Building (C5-98)
L-2920 Luxembourg
Fax +352 4301 34149