The EU needs to invest in new scientific and technological opportunities if it wants to come out of the economic recession, two Italian economists, Daniele Archibugi (Italian National Research Council (CNR) and University of London, Birkbeck College) and Andrea Filippetti, CNR, London School of Economics) argued at an EIB Institute seminar.

“While public investment in infrastructures can certainly be helpful to lead to the recovery, it is not necessarily the most effective in stimulating business investment”, they said in their presentation adding that “opening new scientific and technological opportunities could have a greater effect,” especially as EU investment in Research and Development compared to GDP is already lagging behind the US and being challenged by China.

“This in turn requires long-term commitment to major projects and an active support” by governments otherwise the EU “will not be able to generate scientific and technological opportunities comparable to the United States and, very soon, to China and other emerging countries”, they continued.

The EU should “allow investments in innovation to be funded with public money, apply a new strategy for the dissemination of the results of innovation across the European Economic Space and assess projects on the basis of efficiency and efficacy”, they concluded.