EAIC replies to new European Innovation Agenda consultation

On Tuesday 10 May, EAIC submitted its contribution to the European Innovation Agenda call for evidence launched earlier in April by the European Commission. 
The EC was seekign feed-back on Five essential action points it identified to improve Europe’s innovation performance:

1. Access to finance,
2. Regulatory sandboxes,
3. Innovation ecosystems,
4. Better Innovation Policy making,
5. Talent

By early July an EC communication on the new European Innovation Agenda is expected. 
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The EAIC welcomes this initiative, we stress in particular the following: 

• Scale up gap: Grants under EIC Accelerator are being delivered, however the equity part of the instrument still needs to prove to be successful. Strong delays in the allocation of EIC equity funds runs the risk to undermine the image of the EIC Accelerator and its effectiveness. We encourage the European Commission to consider the set up of a European sovereign investment mechanism, as initially foreseen when the EIC Accelerator was designed. The European Commission should remain the single decision-maker with regards to equity funding. The EIC Fund should only be responsible for the investment implementation modalities and exit strategy. 
• Regulatory sandboxes: The use of regulatory sand-boxes and any new approach to test new regulations favourable to the adoption of innovation is certainly a step in the right direction. We gathered expertise in this field and have been sharing it in a guide on Next Generation EU where we synthesize the content of recovery plans from across the EU and about ongoing or planned calls in each member States. This report can be downloaded here. 
• Innovation ecosystems: We fully agree that synergies between mechanisms and funding instruments to support R&I (such as cohesion policy, Horizon Europe, Recovery and Resilience Facility, Innovation Fund) should be fully exploited. Our members have comprehensive knowledge of the variety of EU funding instruments, we can be a great support to the Commission to explore these synergies..
• Innovation performance: We fully agree that differences among EU regions should be addressed. EAIC is present in all EU member states, including in Widening countries, we have expertise and strong knowledge of the local innovation ecosystems, a deep understanding of the framework conditions existing in each Member States and regions. We would like to offer our support to the Commission in addressing this innovation gap across Europe as we see it as one of the most important challenges the EU has to face to set a stable long term and sustainable recovery.
• Talent: We fully support the new scheme WomenTech EU aimed at encouraging woman entrepreneurship. Our members have dedicated time to communicate on this new initiative and supported projects. Moreover, we support the EU policies regarding the knowledge square, to encourage collaborations between higher education, research, innovation and civil society actors.

Read the full EAIC reply to the consultation here.