Launch event , 25 June 2018

Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, said:

"The 2018 Scoreboard shows again that Europe has a wealth of talent and entrepreneurial spirit, but we must do better at turning this excellence into success. The EU, Member States, regions and industry, including our many SMEs, have to work together to increase the allocative efficiency of our economy, improve the functioning of the internal market and help ensure that Europe remains at the international forefront of innovation."

Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, added:

"This edition of the Scoreboard shows yet again that Europe is strong in science but underperforming on innovation. The renewed agenda for research and innovation sets out a range of measures for Europe to become a global innovation leader. Our proposals for Horizon Europe, the next EU research and innovation programme, will accelerate innovation along the full value chain and support the identification and scale-up of breakthrough innovations."

Launch event 25 June 2018, 14h30 Breydel auditorium - 45 Avenue d'Auderghem - 1040 Brussels

The annual European Innovation Scoreboard provides a comparative assessment of research and innovation performance of the EU and European countries. It allows policy-makers to assess relative strengths and weaknesses of national research and innovation systems, track progress, and identify priority areas to boost innovation performance. This year's Scoreboard reveals that the EU's innovation performance continues to increase and that progress has accelerated in recent years. Since 2010, the innovation performance of the EU has increased by 5.8 percentage points, but progress is uneven. Performance has increased in 18 EU countries and decreased in 10. In a global perspective, the EU continues to improve its position vis-à-vis the United States, Japan, and Canada, but China is catching up at three times the EU's innovation performance growth rate.

AGENDA

14h30 Registration and coffee

15h00 Welcome and key findings of the Scoreboard  Irmfried Schwimann Deputy Director-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, DG GROW, European Commission.  Wolfgang Burtscher Deputy Director-General for Research and Innovation, DG RTD, European Commission.

15h15 Panel 1: "Evidence-based policy-making for innovation: What next?" Chair: Slawomir Tokarski Director ‘Innovation and Advanced Manufacturing’, DG GROW, European Commission  Margareta Drzeniek Deputy Head of Social and Economic Agendas, Executive Committee Member, World Economic Forum  Soumitra Dutta Former Dean and Professor, Cornell University and Founding Editor, Global Innovation Index  Debora Revoltella Director of the Economics Department, European Investment Bank  Mateusz Szczurek Associate Director, Lead Regional Economist, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

16h00 Panel 2: "How can Europe strengthen its innovation potential?" Chair: Kurt Vandenberghe Director 'Policy Development and Coordination', DG RTD, European Commission  Thomas Bjerre Head of Press and Media, Innovation Fund Denmark (Denmark).  Nadine Castillo Special Adviser on National Science Policy, Council for Science and Technology (Malta).  Johan Hanssens Secretary-General, Flemish Ministry of Economy and Research and Innovation ().  Agrita Kiopa Deputy State Secretary- Director of Higher Education Department, Ministry of Education and Science (Latvia).

16h45 Conclusions  Irmfried Schwimann Deputy Director-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, DG GROW, European Commission.  Wolfgang Burtscher Deputy Director-General for Research and Innovation, DG RTD, European Commission.

17h00 End of the event and networking coffee Short biographies

Irmfried Schwimann has been Deputy Director General in the European Commission's Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs since March 2016. Since July 2015 Ms Schwimann is member of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) steering board and since May 2018 Ms Schwimann is a member of the European Investment Fund (EIF) steering board. Previously, Ms Schwimann was Director in the European Commission's Directorate General for Competition; she was responsible for antitrust, merger and state aid control in the financial services sector. Beforehand, Ms Schwimann was head of DG Competition's financial services antitrust unit (2006-2008) and head of DG Internal Market's Financial Services Policy unit (2003-2006). Ms Schwimann also worked on retail financial services and payment issues within DG Markt (1999-2002) and was a member of Commissioner Bolkestein's Cabinet (2002-2003). Ms Schwimann studied law at the University of Linz/Austria as well as political science at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris.Before joining the Commission, Ms Schwimann worked for the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1984-1989) as well as for an Austrian Insurance group (1989-1999).

Wolfgang Burtscher is Deputy Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. An Austrian national, Wolfgang Burtscher acted before joining DG Research and Innovation as a Director in DG Agriculture of the European Commission since 2000. Before his Commission career Mr Burtscher was representative of the Länder at the Austrian Permanent Representation to the EU. From 1992 to 1996 he was Director of European Affairs in the Vorarlberg administration. Previously, from 1990 to 1992, he was a legal advisor at the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in Geneva, at the time of negotiations on the European Economic Area (EEA). He focused particularly on the free circulation of goods and capital and on competition issues. Between 1983-1990 he was a lecturer in International and European Law at the University of Innsbruck. Wolfgang Burtscher holds a doctorate in law and also has a qualification from the Institut Européen des Hautes Etudes Internationales in Nice.

Slawomir Tokarski obtained PhD degree at the European University Institute in Florence in 1995. He joined the Polish administration and headed a team co- ordinating the preparations for the accession negotiations and preparing policy analysis for the Chief Negotiator. In 2004 he joined the Commission as a Cabinet member of the Commissioner responsible for the regional policy. In 2009 he was nominated Head of Unit dealing with economic policy and co-ordination of EU funding in DG MARE. In March 2012 he became Head of Defence, Aeronautics and Maritime industries in DG Enterprise. Since February 2016 Mr Tokarski became Director, Dir F "Innovation and Advanced manufacturing" (DG GROW).

Short biographies

Margareta Drzeniek is member of the Executive Committee at the World Economic Forum, where she leads the economics practice. Ms. Drzeniek-Hanouz oversees the flagship research portfolios and related initiatives on competitiveness and inclusive growth. She is lead author or editor of a number of regional and topical reports and papers, including The Global Risks Report and The Global Competitiveness Report. Margareta also worked on country initiatives to improve performance on productivity. Previously she oversaw the economic modeling for some of the Forum’s scenario projects and was charged with developing the economics section of the program for the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos. Before joining the Forum, Ms. Drzeniek-Hanouz worked for several years with the International Trade Centre in Geneva, where she was in charge of relations with Central and Eastern European countries. She has a Diploma in Economics from the University of Münster and holds a PhD in International Economics from the University of Bochum, both in Germany.

Soumitra Dutta is a Professor of Management and the former founding Dean of the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University, New York. Prior to joining Cornell in 2012, he was on the faculty of INSEAD, a leading international business school with campuses in France and Singapore. Soumitra Dutta is the co- editor and author of the Global Information Technology Report, published by the World Economic Forum and the Global Innovation Index, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization - two influential reports in technology and innovation policy. Dean Dutta is on the board of two listed firms Sodexo, Dassault Systemes and is a member of the Shareholder Council (Board) of ZS Associates. He is currently the Chair of the Board of the Global Business School Network and is on the advisory boards of several business schools including HEC Montreal and ESADE (Spain). Dean Dutta received a B. Tech. in electrical engineering and computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, a MS in both business administration and computer science, and a PhD in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley. In 2017, he received the Distinguished Alumnus award from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Debora Revoltella is the director of the Economics Department of the European Investment Bank, and has held this position since April 2011. The department provides impact-driven economic analysis to support operations, the global positioning as well as the policy and strategy definition of the bank. Debora holds a degree in economics and a masters in economics from Bocconi University as well as a PhD in economics from the University of Ancona in Italy. After the experience as an adjunct professor in macroeconomics at Bocconi University, Debora joined the research department of Banca Commerciale Italiana, a leading Italian Bank. In 2001, she joined UniCredit as the chief economist for Central and Eastern Europe. During these years, the department developed into a leading research centre for the region. Debora is a member of the Steering Committees of the Vienna Initiative and the CompNet, an alternate member of the Board of the Joint Vienna Institute and a member of the Boards of the SUERF and the Euro 50 Group.

Short biographies

Mateusz Szczurek is a member of the European Fiscal Board, the Lead Economist for Central and Eastern Europe at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and an adjuct professor at the Warsaw University. He served as the Polish Minister of Finance in the governments of successive prime ministers Donald Tusk and Ewa Kopacz from 2013 to 2015. Named CEE Minister of Finance of the Year 2014 by Euromoney and Europe’s Finance Minister of the Year 2015 by The Banker magazine. He Co-chaired the finance ministers’ EPP group in 2015. From 2011, Mateusz Szczurek was ING Bank’s chief economist for Central and Eastern Europe and for Poland in 1997- 2011. He taught at Sussex, Warsaw School of Economics and Warsaw University. Was an expert of CASE research foundation, and the Polish representative to Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD. Born on 11 August 1975, he holds doctorate from the University of Sussex, Masters of Arts from Sussex and University of Warsaw as well as undergraduate degree from a joint programme of Warsaw and Columbia University in the City of New York.

Kurt Vandenberghe is Director for Policy Development and Coordination at the European Commission's DG Research and Innovation since 1st February 2016. Before that, he was Director for 'Climate action and resource efficiency' at DG Research and Innovation since July 2013. He served in the Cabinet of Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin (1999-2004) and as Head of the Cabinet of Janez Potocnik, who was Commissioner for Research and Innovation (2004-2009) and subsequently for Environment (from 2010). Kurt joined the European Commission in 1996 as co-ordinator of the Commission’s Intermodal Transport Task Force and of the Transport Research Programme. Before entering the Commission, Kurt worked for 4 years as a manager at Ernst & Young Association Management, where he set up, managed and represented international trade associations. After reading French and Italian literature at the Katholieke Universiteit (KUL) and obtaining a degree in Public and International Affairs at the University Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve (UCL), Kurt gained a Master of Arts degree in International Relations at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (S.A.I.S.) in Bologna, Italy and Washington D.C., US. Kurt is co-founder and board member of Journalismfund.eu and the VZW Scriptieprijs.

Johan Hanssens has been Secretary-general of the Department of Economy, Science & Innovation within the Flemish administration since 1 December 2015. In the past, he was (deputy) Head of Office to former minister for Economy Patricia Ceysens and to former Vice-Minister-President of the Government of Annemie Turtelboom. In the latter function he was competent for economy, innovation, work matters and Flanders foreign affairs. He holds master’s degrees in economic sciences and law. Johan Hanssens strongly believes in cooperation as an answer to the huge societal challenges. According to him “3 processes are key in innovation-driven economies such as the Flemish economy, viz. entrepreneurship, innovation and internationalisation. Systematic feedback and coordination and dynamic interaction are essential to achieve sustainable solutions throughout these processes”.

Short biographies

Dr. Agrita Kiopa is Deputy State Secretary and Director of the Higher Education, Science and Innovation Department at Ministry of Education and Science of Latvia. Currently she is involved in designing and implementing structural reforms of research and innovation system in Latvia. These reforms include redesign of core institutions of higher education and science – rules for institutional and competitive research funding, financing and governance of higher education, integration of higher education and research, consolidation of publicly funded research institutes. These reforms are a part of strategy for transformation of economy towards higher productivity, efficiency and change in the export structure. Previously she has been involved in evaluation of science capacity building projects in United States and capacity building of Latvian government. Agrita Kiopa holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Thomas Bjerre has, since 2005, worked with public investments in innovation and research in Denmark. First as Head of Communication and Analysis at the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation DNATF) and now as Head of Press and Media at the Innovation Fund Denmark (IFD). IFD yearly makes 400 small scale and large scale investments to strengthen innovation and research in a broad range of the Danish society. Some of the main areas are ICT, Bio/Medico, Food, Energy and Environment. Thomas Bjerre has a primary focus on measurements of value creation and communicative frameworks. Also he has a special expertise in the development of public- private partnerships – and what it takes to succeed in terms of leadership and governance. The outcome of DNATF and IFD has been a number of successful enterprises as well scientific breakthroughs and valuable solutions for society. At the same time internal and external procedures has been optimized from A to Z to secure a quick and efficient process for applicants. Earlier in his career Thomas Bjerre has worked as a policy advisor at the Danish Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs and has negotiated service sector policy in the EU and WTO. He holds a master in Political Science and a master in Corporate Communications.

Nadine Castillo is a national Advisor for science Policy within the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) focusing on business-focused cutting-edge initiatives in the R&I sector. Previously she was the Director of the Policy and Strategy Unit (2011-2017) at MCST where she headed the team drafting Malta’s Research and Innovation Strategy 2020 and Malta’s first Smart Specialisation strategy and national action plan. Nadine coordinated the political and technical input for Malta’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the Research and Space dossiers of the Competitiveness Council. She was a National contact point and programme committee delegate for FP5 and FP6, and H2020, a COST senior official and was delegate on ERAC – the European research and innovation area committee. Nadine is a graduate in Psychology and Communications, holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) and a Master of Arts in Gestalt Psychotherapy, and is also a registered Gestalt psychotherapist.

Notes