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Paul Leonard
BASF SE, Head of Innovation and Technology Policy
Introducing the
Innovation Principle
UNLEASHING INNOVATION SUMMIT 2015
European Risk Forum 227 Rue de la Loi 1040 Brussels [email protected]
What is Innovation?
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-
market/en/news/open-innovation-20-yearbook-
2013
Innovation can mean many things but continued investment in technological
innovation depends on access to market
“Commercialisation
of Invention” (Rickards 1985)
Social, technological,
political & artistic
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Technological Innovation and Risk
• Technological innovation
requires risk taking and is
built on uncertainty
Technological risk should be understood & mitigated, but can’t be eradicated
22 CEOs, invest 30 Billion Euros in Innovation each year & employ 1.5
Million people
Appeal from industry
Aerospace
Biotechnology
Chemicals
Consulting
Consumer products
Crop protection
Electronics
Farm machinery
Fertilisers
IT
Life Sciences
Metals / recycling
Oil & Gas
Pharmaceuticals
Seed breeding
European Risk Forum 227 Rue de la Loi 1040 Brussels [email protected]
Innovation Principle
“Whenever legislation is under
consideration, the impact on innovation
should be taken into account & addressed
in the policy & legislative process”
The Innovation Principle “mind-set” is not limited to impact assessment
Will Europe embrace innovative technologies to improve resource
efficiency, health care & facilitate a more sustainable economy?
Future innovations & enabling technologies?
• Driverless transport?
• Nanotechnology, high-tech materials
and polymers?
• Sustainable and productive agriculture:
• golden rice?
• omega3 crops?
• Digital health care?
• Renewable resources from synthetic
biology?
• Circular economy
Regulation & Innovation, a complex
relationship
7 Regulation can stimulate or act as a barrier to innovation
Precaution, Innovation and Sustainability
Sustainability needs both precaution & innovation, not one or the other
Precaution & Innovation Principles
Precautionary & Innovation Principles are Complementary
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European Council
A clear mandate for EU Commission & Member States
https://ec.europa.eu/epsc/sites/epsc/files/strategic_note_issue_14.pdf
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European Political Strategy Centre
Innovation Principle is compatible with the EU Treaty!
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EU Parliament
Supported by both the EU Parliament’s Agriculture Committee and by
Plenary
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+REPORT+A8-2016-0174+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN
Let’s work together to promote the
contribution which Innovation can make
to environmental sustainability,
by promoting a positive and responsible
interpretation of the Innovation Principle
Principle 15 of the 1992 Rio Declaration:
“Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation."
Precautionary Principle adopted to address situations where political
action is required, but science is not clear – a legitimate need
Need for Precaution
European Risk Forum 227 Rue de la Loi 1040 Brussels [email protected]
•Paragraph 2 of article 191 of the Lisbon Treaty,
•"Union policy on the environment shall aim at a high level of protection taking into account the diversity of situations in the various regions of the Union. It shall be based on the precautionary principle and on the principles that preventive action should be taken, that environmental damage should as a priority be rectified at source and that the polluter should pay."
Lisbon Treaty
December 2007
Precautionary Principle included in Lisbon Treaty, still without legally
binding guidance
COM(2000) 1, COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION on the precautionary principle
“….the precautionary principle should start with a scientific evaluation, as complete as possible, and where possible, identifying at each stage the degree of scientific uncertainty. Where action is deemed necessary, measures based on the precautionary principle should be, inter alia: •proportional to the chosen level of protection…..”
EU Commmission guidance is clear
However, it is increasingly not followed by EU Commission
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President Jean Claude Juncker
““Jobs, growth and investment will only return
to Europe if we create the right regulatory
environment and promote a climate of
entrepreneurship and job creation. We must
not stifle innovation and competitiveness
with too prescriptive and too detailed
regulations” (Address to EU Parliament, 15 July 2014)
The “Better Regulation” agenda
Innovation Principle was seen by some to oppose the Precautionary
Principle
G10 Open Letter to EU presidents, 17 October 2013
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EU Parliament’s Research
Services
EPRS aligned the Innovation Principle with “Better Regulation”
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2016/583778/EPRS_IDA(2016)583778_EN.pdf
Commissioner Hogan
(DG Agriculture)
“The political momentum is there for us to do even more. At
political level in Europe, there is growing support for the
establishment of an 'innovation principle' to encourage new
legislation to be supportive of innovation.
I encourage you to take this excellent opportunity to drive
things on.”
World Food Day Conference, 13 October 2016
http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/commissioner-speeches/pdf/hogan-2016-10-13-world-food-day_en.pdf
President Juncker’s State of the Union
Speech
Innovation was not
mentioned by President
Juncker in his
September State of the
Union Address
Innovation is not yet at the highest political level of priority
Which technologies would not have been possible today?
Would steam trains, X-rays, microwaves, & mobile telephones have been
developed in today’s European regulatory environment?
Examples of innovations & enabling technologies currently at risk in Europe
Flame retardants, toasters, nanotechnology, green biotechnology,
surgical equipment?
13 “Investment in research and innovation fuels productivity and growth and is key for job creation”
15 “The Union's intellectual and scientific potential does not always translate into new products and services that can be sold on markets. The main reasons for this commercialisation gap are: difficulties in accessing finance, market barriers and excessive red tape”
32 “The European Council ……. welcomes the steps taken by the Member States and the EU aimed at better identification of excessively burdensome regulation, noting in this respect the subsidiarity and proportionality principles”
EU Council acknowledged negative impact on innovation of
“excessive red tape” & “excessively burdensome regulation”
Conclusions of the European Council (24/25 October 2013) – On Innovation
