Innovation policy needs in Europe -

getting it right for future success

PRO INNO Europe Partnering Event

Stockholm 24-26 November 2009
Dr Jari Kuusisto
Director

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Outline

• European innovation policy - key trends

• Innovation is changing and policy needs to evolve
• Innovation policy is getting a broader mandate

• The case of demand and user driven innovation policy

• Innovation is becoming more demand and user based
• Demand and user-driven innovation policy
• Growing role of users as innovation actors
• How to promote user innovation?

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Innovation is changing and policy needs to evolve

• The concept of innovation is now perceived as much

wider, it includes
• New forms of innovation
• Technological-,organisational-, business model-, service
innovations
• New sources of innovation
• Open innovation, user innovation, user communities...
• Public sector innovations, and citizens role in it

• Innovation policy needs to evolve to realise the

potential of wider innovation concept

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Innovation policy is getting a broader mandate

• The mandate of innovation policy has expanded

• Innovation policy has to tackle many ‘new types of issues’
• Services-,
• Public sector-, and
• Organisational innovations

• It also has a key role in addressing major societal

challenges, e.g.
• Climate change control, ageing society, public sector reform

• How can innovation policy deliver and meet

expectations in its new role?

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The case of demand and user
driven innovation policy

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Innovation is becoming more demand and
user-based
• Policy needs to acknowledge that traditional research-based
innovations are now rivalled by those based on novel
• services, business models, organisational forms, and user
innovations

• New types of capabilities are needed

• Understanding of the needs of users and society
• Ability to utilise individual users, user groups and user communities
as sources of ideas and novel solutions

• Capability to use Europe’s knowledge base to transform these

needs and ideas into new enterprises, products and services, is
a recipe for success

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Demand and user-driven innovation policy

• It seeks to capitalise systematically on market pull as

a factor enhancing commercial success
• Examples of concrete policy issues include
• Users as innovation actors
• Opening of public Sector Information for re-use
• Implementation of PSI directive
• Raw Data for New Services and Products (27 Billion Eur.)

• The need for European Union intellectual property (IP)

strategy as an integral part of innovation policy
• ‘19th century tools are not ideal for 21st century business’

• Innovation policy indicator development -> they need to be

in line with broadening aspects of innovation

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Growing role of users as innovation actors

• Users do innovate, and evidence of their potential is

accumulating
• Medical instruments, mobile software, sports goods, financial and
travel services...etc.
• Typically user innovation involve new functionalities
• User groups and user communities are increasingly important

• Rationale to facilitate user innovation

• Spillover effects are significant
• User involvement can lower the risks of commercialisation
• User involvement can yield shorter time to markets
• Users ideas and efforts represent huge innovation potential
• Communication technologies have enabled cost effective user
participation on local and global scale

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User innovation can be promoted by

• Building awareness of its nature and benefits

• Facilitating user innovations and user
entrepreneurship
• Speeding up user innovation indicator development
• Involving users in publicly supported R&D projects
• Supporting platforms that facilitate user innovation
• E.g. cluster initiatives, living labs...
• Developing IP and licensing practices
• Better flow of user innovations to producer enterprises
• Removing barriers to user innovation
• ......
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Thank you for your attention!

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