A global leader in
science, technology
and innovation
10th EUROPEAN
INNOVATION SUMMIT
Europe
10th
26 - 28 November 2018, European Parliament, Brussels
Your guide to
EIS 2018
EIS
PARTNERS
Welcome
From the
Commissioner
n today’s world, increasingly driven by knowledge
and technology, innovation is the cornerstone of
our economy. It makes almost everything possible.
Without innovation, there can be no jobs, no growth,
and no competitive European Union (EU).
The EU has been beneftting recently from some
light renewed economic growth and job creation.
It reaps the fruits of structural reforms in a number
of Member States coupled with a critical mass of
investment in a smart, innovative and sustainable
industry, including via the EU budget.
However, we – European - might not take this
improvement as a given. Our collective duty is to
keep on nurturing the innovation capacity of the
EU to lay the ground for the future and keep on
delivering on jobs and growth. Competitiveness is
a moving target and we have a great deal of work
ahead of us to make it sustainable, starting at the
grass-root of innovation i.e. research.
The EU has been doing a great deal for a long
time and has reached many successes in the feld
of fundamental research, in particular thanks to the
successive Framework Research programmes.
We face more difculties when it comes to building
on, scaling up and bringing the output of these
fundamental research activities to the market; and
this is precisely where we can create economic value.
Whilst new companies emerge at a similar rate in
Europe as they do, for example, in the US, these new
companies have difculties in scaling up to become
major employers and market leaders.
Against this backdrop, the Commission has
proposed to increase the budget of Horizon Europe
up to EUR 94.1 billion in 2021-2027. This envelope –
the largest ever – refects our collective ambition and
commitment to secure the position of Europe as a
global leader in the feld of research while increasing
signifcantly market penetration. Operationally
speaking, this will translate into grants ofered at
early and pre-commercial stages of the research
projects and a mix of grants and equity fnancing
up to a stage where investors can step in on usual
commercial terms.
By leveraging EUR 650 billion of additional
investment through the new InvestEU, the EU will
further accompany the companies – mostly SMEs
– holding these innovation projects down the road
of fnancial viability. Only after creating a robust eco-
system of healthy companies in the feld of advanced
technology, can economic prosperity last.
In the research and innovation landscape, digital
is undoubtedly one of the most promising areas
including in felds such as artifcial intelligence or
high performance computing. The EU is of course
committed to support these technologies in 2021-
2027. But let us not be blinded by the tremendous
potential of new technologies: digital will create
jobs - for sure, but it will also destroy some. At least it
will massively change existing jobs, in terms of tasks,
relationship between employers and employees
or working conditions. Those changes will have
profound impact on our societies and the EU will
have to take care that citizens are not left by the
wayside. We need to be able to give them at least
indications of where we want to move collectively
and bring the benefts of digital transformation to
our businesses, our public administrations and our
society as a whole. This is the ”raison d’être” of the
new Digital Europe Programme (EUR 9 billion).
The regions will also invest signifcant amounts
in innovation and, by doing so, will play a crucial
role of interface between the EU and the citizens
and in accompanying those changes. In the period
2021-2027, the European Regional Development
Fund (ERDF) will support not only investments into
research and innovation, digitalisation, but also
towards SME competitiveness and skills alignment.
This 10th European Innovation Summit is being
instrumental in contributing to face those huge
challenges ahead and aligning the eforts and
energies towards this great endeavour.
Günther Hermann Oettinger, European
Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources
EIS 2018 / 1
Günther
Hermann
Oettinger
ASSOCIATION
Knowledge4Innovation (K4I) is
an open, independent non-proft
organisation enabling multiple
stakeholders of the knowledge and
innovation economy to meet and
exchange their experiences with
the common objective of improving
Europe’s innovation performance.
The goal of Knowledge4innovation
and the Pact for Innovation is mak-
ing innovation and research the top
priority for Europe and to create the
best possible framework conditions
and support mechanism. A major
focus is on optimizing the impact
and exploitation of knowledge and
ideas. There is a great wealth of
publicly funded academic research
waiting to be turned into products,
services and solutions that create
market value beneftting the econo-
my and society.
FORUM
Our activities are mainly taking
place in the environment of the EU
institutions with a strong foothold
in the European Parliament. Within
the activities of the K4I Forum in the
European Parliament, supported by
40 MEPs, we have been organising
more than 500 debates and 9 suc-
cessful European Innovation
Summit events in the European
Parliament in Brussels.
MEMBERS
2 / EIS 2018
his year the European Innovation Summit is
celebrating its 10th anniversary.
Ten years ago, to speak of innovation as
the main driver of growth was pioneering and
innovative in itself. But today, in their speeches
in the EP almost every head of state refects on
innovations and their importance to society
and economies.
Awareness of the importance of the
development of a creative society, the need
for changing educational models, connecting
scientifc research with the needs of
entrepreneurs, supporting startups to scale up
fast and the need for increasing investments
into research and innovation, has completely
changed. But this awareness now needs to turn
into concrete actions, and should be visible in the
new MFF and regulations.
I would like to congratulate all K4I members,
who have been promoting innovation and the
importance of building an innovative society.
You are the ones who have initiated discussions
on: new EU innovation policy, partnerships for
innovation, the innovation ecosystem, evidence-
based regulations, development of new skills,
removing barriers to innovation, tackling
society’s big challenges…
I am delighted that this year’s ‘EU Top 50
Founders and Tech Festival’ will take place again
in the European Parliament, and will be focused
on young founders and innovators from all over
the EU who will be discussing interesting topics
such as digital transformation, clean energy,
healthcare for a better life, urban mobility,
AI/Big Data, food for all, the Internet of Things,
and more. Young innovation leaders will
engage in ‘tech talks’ with participants,
exchange experience, meet, connect and network
ideas with investors, corporations, startups and
their peers.
I sincerely wish all participants of the
10th European Innovation Summit fruitful
discussions, success in making connections and
starting a wide range of new projects.
Ivana Maletić, MEP
Chair of the Knowledge4Innovation Forum of the
European Parliament
Innovation – it’s time to act
Welcome
EIS 2018 / 3
Welcome
elcome to the 10th
anniversary European
Innovation Summit. The
past decade has seen a lot of
turmoil, with the economic and
fnancial crisis, Brexit, looming
trade wars, widening disparities
between member states,
changing geo political and
competitiveness realities.
At the same time, we have also
witnessed a changing innovation
landscape, with increasing
complexity, true global
competition, all developing
very quickly.
The EU in 2020 will be a critical
point in time, with new
challenges and changed
paradigms. A number of crucial
policy decisions have to be made
before then. The choices will
determine the resilience and
future for all member states,
their knowledge institutions,
industries and citizens.
Research and Innovation
are driving forces for growth,
jobs and well-being, and the
new Multi-annual Financial
Framework, Horizon Europe - and
related programmes like Digital
Europe, will set the direction
for the decade ahead. The
policy initiatives include new
instruments, more bottom up,
multi stakeholder approaches and
a stronger focus on innovation.
This anniversary EIS will be the
place to discuss the future with
industry, R&I actors, innovators,
citizens, policy makers, investors
and for the frst time a selection
of Young Innovation Leaders.
As part of the second edition of
the EUTOP50 Founders and Tech
Festival, we are launching a new
mentorship programme for a
selection of promising startups
that have applied during the
EUTOP50 competition.
Robbert Fisher, President, Knowledge4Innovation, Managing Director, JIIP
Roland Strauss, Managing Director, Knowledge4Innovation
We look forward to welcoming you.
A special welcome
4 / EIS 2018
The leading open platform for international cooperation in
innovation. Nowhere else is it easier to tap into public funds
and gain valuable international business partners.
Open to SMEs, universities, research institutes
and large companies.
EUREKA-supported R&D projects
are always bottom-up and anyone can lead
a project in any technology.
EUREKA has different instruments to suit as many different R&D-
performing profles as possible. Thanks to a recent initiative – EUREKA
Globalstars – countries outside of the EUREKA network such as Brazil,
Argentina, Taiwan, India and Singapore have the opportunity of getting involved.
Open for international cooperation
Open to all countries and partners
Open to all technologies
Open for business (and more)
EUREKA is open:
EUREKA
has
impact:
45
countries
6800+
projects
17000+
businesses
supported
€38.4
BILLION
of funding
Industry
Technology
Policy
mail@jiip.eu
+32 (0)26692350
www.jiip.eu
find us on
THE ANNUAL EUROPEAN
INNOVATION SUMMIT (EIS)
WILL CELEBRATE ITS
TENTH ANNIVERSARY
THIS YEAR.
EIS 2018 / 7
he annual European
Innovation Summit is celebrating
its tenth anniversary.
Spearheaded by Knowledge4Innovation
(K4I), the summit has grown to become
the continent’s premier cross-sector
industry and policy event focused on
generating new ideas and connections
linked to frontier impact innovations,
especially emerging technologies with the
potential to accelerate Europe towards a
sustainable future.
The summit brings together policy
makers, industry leaders, academics and
early stage businesses united in their desire
10 YEARS
of the European
Innovation Summit
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
8 / EIS 2018