I attended a breakfast this week hosted by Danuta Hubner, MEP Chair of the Regional Policy Committee, at the European Parliament to mark the launch of the Polish Innovation Barometer, an independent study conducted on behalf of GE to gather perspectives from Polish business executives on the state of innovation in Poland. Budget Commissioner Lewandowski addressed the gathering commenting that it was a timely discussion following the EU budget proposals this summer. Leslaw Kuzaj, the CEO for GE in Central Europe, a region that includes Poland, agreed with this saying that Central and Eastern Europe needs to reflect and plan how to become more competitive after the crisis.

Innovation is a very broad theme and has become something of a buzz word in Brussels in the last couple of years. However, with the GE Innovation Barometer, we focused on understanding very practically the business perspective in Poland and areas for improvement in the future. The results of the Barometer were very interesting and the ensuing debate lively – let me summarise some of the key points covered.

In Ms Hubner’s opening remarks, she explained that innovation needs to be a driving factor for sustainable growth. Poland’s economy is growing annually by 4%, but Ms. Hubner and Commissioner Lewandowski pointed out that this is growth based on big increases in productivity. What Central and Eastern Europe needs is more indigenous growth to remain competitive. This acknowledgement of the need for new types of growth was reflected in the Barometer with 97% of Polish respondents seeing innovation as the main lever to create a more competitive national economy.

With this huge appetite for innovation in Poland, and EU structural funds targeting many key sectors including an €8.6bn allocation for innovation, this raises the question of why only 56% of respondents to the Barometer are satisfied with the innovation framework in Poland.

Innovation needs to work in a system, explained Ms Hubner and there are two sides to innovation – the research element (or supply side) but also the demand side of economies of scale like regional markets and the yet to be completed Single European Market. In order to enable those you need better regulation, standardisation and action in the field of public procurement. The links between the supply and demand sides of innovation need to be strengthened.

A participant working in DG Regio made the point that what we need is cultural change. What Poland needs is structural and mental change – and, most importantly, champions of change in the Polish administration. This would change the innovation landscape and incentivise companies to invest more – certainly necessary given that 61% of respondents to the Innovation barometer believe that promoting fiscal incentives for innovative companies should be a priority from Polish and EU leaders.

Another critical issue that came up in the Barometer and was also mentioned by many speakers was the need to improve the education system and how private sector and universities collaborate in Poland. Historically, greater emphasis has been placed on theoretical and scientific expertise but there has been no business approach in university education. This has contributed to a frustration among respondents about the focus and the collaborative nature of the education sector in Poland. Only 41% of Innovation Barometer respondents believe that local universities and schools provide a strong education model for tomorrow’s leaders in Poland. This is in contrast to the global average of 65%.

The speakers highlighted the need to drive cultural change and enable a more collaborative approach to innovation. This matches well with the results of the Innovation Barometer in which 79% believe that 21st century innovation is about partnerships between several players more than the success of one organisation alone.

Fear of failure has cultivated a fear of innovation – this is a European phenomenon that puts 500 million Europeans at a competitive disadvantage on the global stage. More needs to be done to encourage collaboration between universities, SMEs and large companies like GE.

In summary, and to quote Ms. Hubner, “Poland is growing and conditions have improved, but for me, this barometer is about unused potential.” Poland has a big opportunity and is going in the right direction to capitalise on it. Indigenous growth and innovation, for which there are EU Funds available, will make the country more competitive. Indeed, much has already been done – over 90% of the respondents to the Innovation barometer believe that the context of innovation has improved in the last 5 years.

About the Author: Emmanuel Glimet is the Director of European Funding at GE (General Electric Company). Mr. Glimet manages the operating mechanisms between governments of receiving member states and the EU, projects related to Structural Funds, and also R&D and Innovation funding.

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Author : ge_europe
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