Electronics company Philips has criticised the European Commission for overlooking the industry’s needs in an on-going consultation on the European Research Area.
In its response to the public consultation, Philips Research said that “many of the issues raised […] have limited or no direct relevance to industry,” although private companies perform 60 per cent of European R&D.
For example, the Commission’s Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for their recruitment are impossible to implement in practice for the industry, writes Jan van den Biesen, vice-president of public R&D programmes at Philips Research. “The Charter and Code should not be made mandatory, at least not for industry,” he says.
Industry should also be better involved in pan-European funding instruments, such as Joint Programming Initiatives, van den Biesen adds.
The company also criticises the consultation’s focus on the input side of the innovation system. “If there is no demand for new products, processes or services, then there is no point in investing in industrial R&D on the input side,” Philips said.
The public consultation “ERA: areas of untapped potential” runs until 30 November (see RE 29/09/11).