Introducing the Innovation Principle - ERFBASF SE, Head of Innovation and Technology Policy...

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Paul Leonard

BASF SE, Head of Innovation and Technology Policy

Introducing the

Innovation Principle

UNLEASHING INNOVATION SUMMIT 2015

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What is Innovation?

https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-

market/en/news/open-innovation-20-yearbook-

2013

Innovation can mean many things but continued investment in technological

innovation depends on access to market

“Commercialisation

of Invention” (Rickards 1985)

Social, technological,

political & artistic

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Technological Innovation and Risk

• Technological innovation

requires risk taking and is

built on uncertainty

Technological risk should be understood & mitigated, but can’t be eradicated

22 CEOs, invest 30 Billion Euros in Innovation each year & employ 1.5

Million people

Appeal from industry

Aerospace

Biotechnology

Chemicals

Consulting

Consumer products

Crop protection

Electronics

Farm machinery

Fertilisers

IT

Life Sciences

Metals / recycling

Oil & Gas

Pharmaceuticals

Seed breeding

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Innovation Principle

“Whenever legislation is under

consideration, the impact on innovation

should be taken into account & addressed

in the policy & legislative process”

The Innovation Principle “mind-set” is not limited to impact assessment

Will Europe embrace innovative technologies to improve resource

efficiency, health care & facilitate a more sustainable economy?

Future innovations & enabling technologies?

• Driverless transport?

• Nanotechnology, high-tech materials

and polymers?

• Sustainable and productive agriculture:

• golden rice?

• omega3 crops?

• Digital health care?

• Renewable resources from synthetic

biology?

• Circular economy

Regulation & Innovation, a complex

relationship

7 Regulation can stimulate or act as a barrier to innovation

Precaution, Innovation and Sustainability

Sustainability needs both precaution & innovation, not one or the other

Precaution & Innovation Principles

Precautionary & Innovation Principles are Complementary

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European Council

A clear mandate for EU Commission & Member States

https://ec.europa.eu/epsc/sites/epsc/files/strategic_note_issue_14.pdf

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European Political Strategy Centre

Innovation Principle is compatible with the EU Treaty!

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EU Parliament

Supported by both the EU Parliament’s Agriculture Committee and by

Plenary

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+REPORT+A8-2016-0174+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN

Let’s work together to promote the

contribution which Innovation can make

to environmental sustainability,

by promoting a positive and responsible

interpretation of the Innovation Principle

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Backup Slides

Principle 15 of the 1992 Rio Declaration:

“Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation."

Precautionary Principle adopted to address situations where political

action is required, but science is not clear – a legitimate need

Need for Precaution

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•Paragraph 2 of article 191 of the Lisbon Treaty,

•"Union policy on the environment shall aim at a high level of protection taking into account the diversity of situations in the various regions of the Union. It shall be based on the precautionary principle and on the principles that preventive action should be taken, that environmental damage should as a priority be rectified at source and that the polluter should pay."

Lisbon Treaty

December 2007

Precautionary Principle included in Lisbon Treaty, still without legally

binding guidance

COM(2000) 1, COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION on the precautionary principle

“….the precautionary principle should start with a scientific evaluation, as complete as possible, and where possible, identifying at each stage the degree of scientific uncertainty. Where action is deemed necessary, measures based on the precautionary principle should be, inter alia: •proportional to the chosen level of protection…..”

EU Commmission guidance is clear

However, it is increasingly not followed by EU Commission

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President Jean Claude Juncker

““Jobs, growth and investment will only return

to Europe if we create the right regulatory

environment and promote a climate of

entrepreneurship and job creation. We must

not stifle innovation and competitiveness

with too prescriptive and too detailed

regulations” (Address to EU Parliament, 15 July 2014)

The “Better Regulation” agenda

Innovation Principle was seen by some to oppose the Precautionary

Principle

G10 Open Letter to EU presidents, 17 October 2013

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EU Parliament’s Research

Services

EPRS aligned the Innovation Principle with “Better Regulation”

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2016/583778/EPRS_IDA(2016)583778_EN.pdf

Commissioner Hogan

(DG Agriculture)

“The political momentum is there for us to do even more. At

political level in Europe, there is growing support for the

establishment of an 'innovation principle' to encourage new

legislation to be supportive of innovation.

I encourage you to take this excellent opportunity to drive

things on.”

World Food Day Conference, 13 October 2016

http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/commissioner-speeches/pdf/hogan-2016-10-13-world-food-day_en.pdf

President Juncker’s State of the Union

Speech

Innovation was not

mentioned by President

Juncker in his

September State of the

Union Address

Innovation is not yet at the highest political level of priority

Which technologies would not have been possible today?

Would steam trains, X-rays, microwaves, & mobile telephones have been

developed in today’s European regulatory environment?

Examples of innovations & enabling technologies currently at risk in Europe

Flame retardants, toasters, nanotechnology, green biotechnology,

surgical equipment?

13 “Investment in research and innovation fuels productivity and growth and is key for job creation”

15 “The Union's intellectual and scientific potential does not always translate into new products and services that can be sold on markets. The main reasons for this commercialisation gap are: difficulties in accessing finance, market barriers and excessive red tape”

32 “The European Council ……. welcomes the steps taken by the Member States and the EU aimed at better identification of excessively burdensome regulation, noting in this respect the subsidiarity and proportionality principles”

EU Council acknowledged negative impact on innovation of

“excessive red tape” & “excessively burdensome regulation”

Conclusions of the European Council (24/25 October 2013) – On Innovation