Corporate Lobbyists Dominate EU Innovation Conference

Several dozen corporate lobbyists, including representatives of oil companies like Shell and chemicals makers like BASF, were invited to the European parliament on Tuesday as the parliament opened its doors for a conference on innovation. After the obvious failure of the Lisbon Process, which attempted to turn Europe into’s the world’s most competitive economy by 2010, the EU now is preparing for a major revision of its approach to innovation. A formal commission proposal is expected to appear during 2010. From the EU Parliament website: On 13th and 14th October, the European Parliament will have nothing but innovation on its mind. The conference “Knowledge 4 Innovation Summit” and exhibition will feature workshops and special events that involve students and innovation-mind organisations from all around Europe. Knowledge4Innovation (K4I) is a not-for-profit and independent platform enabling multiple stakeholders of the knowledge and innovation economy to meet and exchange their experiences with the common objective of improving Europes innovation performance. K4I works through the Lisbon Forum which was launched in the European Parliament in December 2008. The Lisbon Forum was designed specifically for policy makers and the business and science communities to effectively introduce their respective agendas and address the most pressing issues concerning Europe’s knowledge base economy and society. www.knowledge4innovation.eu