This article about European innovation strategy was published by EurActiv on 29th January 2010.

Plans to unveil an Innovation Act in time for the spring meeting of EU leaders have been stalled while the new European Commission beds down and looks at broadening the scope of the strategy.

The document is now expected to be published in June and will fit into the ‘EU 2020′ strategy for growth and jobs. By that time, a clearer picture will also have emerged of the roles of the new European commissioners.

The first clear sign of a delay came when MEPs grilled incoming Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani at his parliamentary hearing earlier this month.

Tajani, whose services have been working on a draft of the plan, said it could be six months before it is unveiled. Rather than aiming for the spring, as had originally been intended, he said “the summer months” are a more realistic deadline.

He and other commissioners have dropped any reference to the ‘Act’, preferring to call it an “action plan” or a “strategy”.

Even before Christmas, officials close to the drafting process acknowledged that the title of European Innovation Act was unlikely to be used for the final document.

To read this article in full, please click here. If you would like to make a comment on this issue, please use the box below.