Activities of Judith A. MERKIES related to 2010/2245(INI)
Plenary speeches (3)
Innovation Union: transforming Europe for a post-crisis world (debate)
Innovation Union: transforming Europe for a post-crisis world (debate)
Innovation Union: transforming Europe for a post-crisis world (debate)
Reports (1)
REPORT on Innovation Union: transforming Europe for a post-crisis world PDF (458 KB) DOC (340 KB)
Amendments (28)
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas in the view of the economic global context the European Union must take an offensive stance and take a firm front runner position in competitiveness, the EU must therefore invest in an innovation blast;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the Innovation Union flagship initiative, which is the most significant and concrete attempt so far to introduce a strategic, integrated European innovation policy, whereby innovation is steered and progress monitored at the highest political level, whose success though depends on the full cooperation of – and its implementation by –the Member States, whereby the common innovation objectives steer their policies in all relevant areas; welcomes the strategic approach of the European Council at its meeting on the 4th of February 2011;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Points out that the targets as set out in the Europe 2020 Strategy, the Energy Strategy for Europe 2011-2020 setting the milestone towards Energy 2050 Roadmap and the Roadmap for a Low Carbon Economy by 2050 must be given priority in the Innovation Union;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses the importance of the Resource- Efficient Europe flagship initiative and of efforts to decouple economic growth from the use of resources by supporting the shift towards a low-carbon economy, increasing the sustainable use of renewable energy sources and developing sustainable transport;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 – point 1
Paragraph 6 – point 1
· strategic orientation and development, design and implementation of all policies and measures, with the aim of contributing to and enhancing innovation in Europe (through, for example, education, the labour market, the single market, infrastructure, taxation instruments, industrial policy, procurement and trade);
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 – point 4
Paragraph 6 – point 4
· coordination and, coherence and synergy among the different policy areas, actions and instruments, so as to prevent fragmentation and duplication arising from uncoordinated research and innovation efforts;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 – subparagraph 1
Paragraph 6 – subparagraph 1
Stresses that the main goal of the Innovation Union policy should be to facilitate coordination and, coherence and synergy by adopting a truly holistic approach focused on the grand societal challenges;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Calls upon the Commission and the Member States to put serious effort into bringing about a change of mindset towards innovative and curiosity-driven thinking and higher acceptance of the implications of risk taking and a more permissive attitude towards failure, by encouraging changes towards sustainable consumer patterns and actively promoting citizens' engagement in innovation;
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Stresses that social innovation is the opportunity for citizens, in any role, to enhance their working and life environment; more specifically it means workplace innovation, which entails the implementation of new and combined interventions in the fields of work organisation, HRM and supportive technologies; as all forms of social innovation are equally valuable, attention should be given to a set of definitions of all these types of social innovation;
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the Member States to take action to improve the entrepreneurial and quantitative skills and training of (young) Europeans by incorporating entrepreneurship and innovation into all areas of education;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Welcomes the Commission to make strong progress in improving career prospects for researchers and increasing their mobility between research sectors and across national borders. This would help ensure an adequate supply of researchers and enhance the quality of EU research and innovation. Researchers across the EU should be able to benefit from the right training, attractive career conditions and the removal of barriers to mobility;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Stresses the need to support SMEs from the first stage of innovation until the end, so that they are able to innovate and can participate in European Support Programmes;
Amendment 172 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Calls on the Commission to introduce a single policy framework with uniform rules, which results in a better method of financing innovation, by creating synergies and merging Research & Development & Innovation (R&D&I) support programmes where possible, for example the FPs, Joint Technology Initiatives, the CIP, Joint Programmes, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology and the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan, and to direct structural funding and parts of the Common Agricultural Policy funds and Emission Trading Scheme auction revenues to innovation; joins the Council in calling for a new balance between trust and control, and between risk-taking and risk avoidance;
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Calls on the Commission to link funding instruments more closely to demand-side innovation tools such as the Lead Market Initiativeand provide support to start-up companies in need of early access to EU- or international markets;
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Urges the Commission to expand the EIB's successful Risk Sharing Finance Facility (RSFF) by providing loans and guarantees for private companies or public institutions with a higher financial risk profile for their R&D&I activities, by stepping up the available guarantees, providing an additional EUR 500 million in 2011, increasing current funding from EUR 1 billion to EUR 5 billion after 2013 and diversifying the risk componenttype of risk-sharing structures in order to provide better access to finance for enterprises - in particular SMEs;
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Calls on the Commission to move a greater proportion of close-to-the-market research to loan-debt and equity driven instruments such as the CIP,RSFF and the CIP financial instruments by the RSFFEIB and the EIF, and to givensure SMEs Europe-wide access thereto;
Amendment 210 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Recommends to increase the risk- guarantee factor provided by the EU budget for RSFF scheme, thus enabling greater access for start-up companies and other SMEs;
Amendment 212 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 b (new)
Paragraph 19 b (new)
19b. Welcomes the Commission proposal to ensure that by 2012, Venture Capital funds established in any Member State can function and invest freely in the EU creating therefore a true "EU Venture Capital Single Market";
Amendment 216 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to re-evaluate the whole ecosystem of innovation with a view to removing unnecessary barriers, for example to access to loans for universities, research institutions and research infrastructures and to develop technology transfer activities based on intellectual property valorisation;
Amendment 233 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Recommends to allocate the greater share of the Structural Funds to R&D&I and to direct this share to the grand societal challenges;
Amendment 258 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Welcomes the Commission proposal to develop a European knowledge market for tradingIPR and licensing by the end of 2011, including facilitating access to unused intellectual property;
Amendment 262 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Urges the Member States to strategically use public procurement addressing the societal challenges to stimulate innovation and direct their public procurement budget towards innovative products, processes and services; calls, therefore, on the Commission, in its legislative proposals, to facilitate innovation enabling (joint) public procurement, including a review of pre- commercial procurement opportunities, and calls on the Member States to increase their green public procurement, with particular attention to SMEs;
Amendment 276 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 – point 1
Paragraph 32 – point 1
· cannot exceed the limited number of grand societal challenges and must be aligned with these grand societal challenges,
Amendment 279 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 – point 2 a (new)
Paragraph 32 – point 2 a (new)
· be targeted and focussed on impact and clear deliverables,
Amendment 280 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 – point 4
Paragraph 32 – point 4
· be shared and coordinated among more than two policy fields (DGs) within the Commission, and
Amendment 292 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
33. Calls upon the Commission to report annually to Parliament on all EIPs, and twice-yearly on the first pilot project and demands the involvement of the European Parliament in all stages of the implementation of the EIPs;
Amendment 295 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Underlines that full engagement of the regional and local levels is crucial to achieving the goals of the Innovation Union, as they have the necessary proximity to a wide range of actors involved in innovation andan important role in bringing together businesses, knowledge institutions, public authorities and the citizen; no longer the triple-helix approach, but the diamond 4 standard, as it acknowledges the important role of the citizen; they serve as an intermediary between these various actors, the Member States and the EU;
Amendment 300 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 a (new), after subheading 7 a (new)
Paragraph 34 a (new), after subheading 7 a (new)
34a. Invites the European Commission to translate the current strategic document “Innovation Union” into an action plan with specific objectives and with measurable and time-framed targets; calls on the Commission to monitor progress regularly, assessing obstacles and putting forward mechanism to enable improvement, reporting regularly to the European Parliament and the Council;