Better regulation for new technologies

Regulation may foster or hinder research and innovation. How it does so depends on compliance cost, commercial risk impact and legal certainty. Moreover, the timing and the capacity to accommodate alternative technical solutions need to be taken into consideration.

Under the ‘Better regulation’ initiative for improving Community legislation, competitiveness tests are now applied to all new Community legislative proposals as part of ex-ante impact assessment. In this frame, the effects of proposals on research and innovation are assessed whenever relevant.

The Commission is also promoting a more pro-active approach to regulation and standardisation, to identify issues where existing legislation and standards, or their absence, constitute obstacles to the development of new technologies.

To that end, the Commission is stepping up its dialogue with stakeholders notably through the use of European Technology Platforms.

• Some twenty-five industry-led European Technology Platforms have been launched since 2003 in areas such as innovative medicines, aeronautics, hydrogen and fuel cells, textiles and manufacturing technologies.
• Platforms regroup the main stakeholders in the areas concerned. They are developing medium to long-term research agendas to address strategic technological challenges. In so doing, the Platforms are also invited to identify issues related to the regulatory framework in which the technologies concerned are developed.
• Where relevant, this enables an early identification of issues that could hamper the development of new technologies and facilitates the early adaptation of regulations and standards.

The work of Technology Platforms is complemented for innovation aspects by the Europe INNOVA Initiative. The Europe INNOVA Initiative is a family of sectoral innovation projects bringing together analysis and practical experience. It has been launched end 2005 and includes:

• A ‘Sectoral Innovation Watch’ to assess innovation performance in different industrial sectors and identify drivers and challenges to innovation
• Networks of industrial clusters across Europe, organized by sector, to identify and exchange good practice in related policies
• Networks of innovation, investors, to identify specific financial needs of companies
• Innovation panels composed of high-level industry experts, academics and policy-makers to validate the findings of the project and draw policy recommendations
• Europe INNOVA Forum, consisting of a virtual platform where any initiative related to an innovation policy can network and exchange good practices