15 YEARS | KNOWLEDGE4INNOVATION IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
INNOVATORS MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2024 | 05
The K4I Forum in the European Parliament
has “been in the driving seat from the very
beginning of this journey” is how former
European Commissioner for Innovation,
Mariya Gabriel summed up K4I Forum’s role in
creating the New European Innovation Agenda
adopted in 2022.
And in every decade of the 21st century the K4I
Forum can be seen in this role of lead architect
in the advancement of European innovation.
2009
The Knowledge4innovation Forum in the
European Parliament begins shaping the
future of innovation in Europe. From the start,
the Forum advocates for innovation to be a
top priority in European policy making, which
is encouraged by then Commission President
José Manuel Barroso at the 1st European
Innovation Summit.
“Innovation will be the key to Europe’s
recovery and to building a more sustainable
economy and society afer the crisis.
Innovation is not just about product
development: it is about how our society
changes and improves. Innovation is about
the way we do business, the way we work,
the options we choose as consumers and
citizens.”
José Manuel Barroso, Former European
Commission President
Roland Strauss, Paul Rübig, José Manuel Barroso, Lambert van Nistelrooij at the 1st European Innovation Summit
The Brussels chapters: 2009 – 2024 and
beyond...
K4I Forum’s annual events held In the
European Parliament, Brussels, give the
continent’s diverse innovation ecosystem
a platform to drive transformative change.
In the 2010s the K4I Forum, alongside the
European Parliament and Commission, is
instrumental in orchestrating milestone
moments in Europe’s innovation journey: as
Horizon Europe dedicates its third pillar to
Innovative Europe, the European Innovation
Council invests in green growth, and more
than 10 bn euro of funding is mobilised for
Europe’s startups.
Carlos Moedas with Lambert van Nistelrooij, K4I Forum Chair
(2009 - 2019)