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Aho Group Report

Aho group report

The European Commission - faced with the increasing challenges of globalization - set up in late 2005 a group of four high-level experts, chaired by former Prime Minister of Finland, Esko Aho, to assess the situation and make proposals to boost Europe's research and innovation performance.

More concrete, the mandate of the group was to provide the European Commission with its views, advice and recommendation on ways to accelerate the implementation of planned new initiatives at EU or national level aimed to reinforcing EU research and innovation performance in the context of the revised Lisbon Strategy and additional issues and initiatives the group considered relevant.

Among the four expert is TCI Board of Advisors President Antoni Subira, former Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism of Catalonia and now Professor at IESE Business School (Barcelona).

In the final report submitted to the European Commission the Expert Group calls for a Pact for Research and Innovation to be signed by political, business and social leaders to show their commitment to creating an Innovative Europe. The experts state that current trends are unsustainable in the face of global competition and that a new vision is needed to address a series of productivity and social challenges faced by Europe.

The report urges Europe's leaders to take radical action on research and innovation as soon as possible. The group argues that there is a large gap between the political rhetoric about the knowledge society and the reality of budgetary and other priorities.

They propose to focus on 4 areas: the creation of innovation friendly markets, strengthening R&D resources, increasing structural mobility as well as fostering a culture which celebrates innovation.

You can find more information on the EU website, where you can download the report in full version (English) or as summaries in different European languages: Aho Report

The Expert Group is composed of :

Mr. Esko Aho (Chairman) - Former Prime Minister of Finland
Dr. Jozef Cornu - former President and COO of Alcatel Telecom
Prof. Luke Georghiou (Rapporteur) - Manchester Business School of the University of Manchester
Prof. Antoni Subirà - IESE Business School (Barcelona)


Source: http://europa.eu.int/invest-in-research/action/2006_ahogroup_en.htm