Philips’ comments on Commission’s proposal for FP7.doc

Philips’ comments on Commission’s proposal for FP7 1. Introduction The first Framework Programme began in 1984, when the Commission launched ESPRIT, in close cooperation with twelve large European ICT firms including Philips. Since then, Philips has actively and fruitfully participated in nearly 1,000 R&D projects under successive Framework Programmes. Therefore, we would like to actively contribute to the debate on the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) by putting forward our comments on the Commission’s proposal for FP7 (COM(2005)119) and the accompanying Communication “Building the ERA of knowledge for growth” (COM(2005)118). The proposal rightfully emphasises the central role of R&D and innovation in ensuring the competitiveness Europe’s economy and the sustainability of its society. Philips appreciates the extensive analysis of Europe’s international competitiveness and the economic underpinning of the need to invest more in knowledge, as provided in an annex to the FP7 proposal. However, to implement the Union’s Lisbon Strategy and become the world’s most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy, Europe’s key challenge is not only acquiring more knowledge, but also turning knowledge into more economic value. From this point of view we welcome the Commission’s proposal for FP7 being focused on the notion of “knowledge for growth”. However, growth from knowledge will only result if also applications, valorisation and innovation get adequate attention throughout FP7. An important new paradigm in this context is Open Innovation. It refers to the trend of companies increasingly building on internal and external sources of ideas to create value from innovation. Firms that can harness outside ideas to advance their own business while leveraging their internal ideas outside their current operations will likely thrive. In this respect, FP7 can play an instrumental role. For Open Innovation to happen, large firms, SMEs, universities and research institutes wil