EU innovation needs helping hand

European Union member governments will have to provide early support and funding but avoid dictating what entrepreneurs should do.

This is the conclusion of a summary of 11 recent reports on innovation policy and practice in the EU just published.

The report found that innovators’ access to risk capital is poor, that research firms and state bodies are geared to basic research rather than product development and promotion, and that “bureaucracy and corruption still constitute significant barriers to entrepreneurship”.

But results show that firms that prize innovation create more jobs than those that don’t. This is true even though productivity improvements from innovation may destroy jobs. “Innovation causes a skills shift, increasing the proportion of skilled workers in the innovating firm,” it said.

It found that most technology-based spin-offs come from industry rather than academia, and that a start-up friendly regional network is crucial in improving the chances of success.

“A strong research institution, a public sector pre-seed capital fund and specialised technological incubation capacity are essential features of an entrepreneurial regional climate favourable to the creation of high-growth start-ups,” it said.

State-backed and mutual loan guarantee schemes are “very effective” in bridging the funding gap, it added.

However, there is a dearth of people capable of assessing project and funding proposals. “Training of analysts in entrepreneurship, technology trends and the basic principles of technology is patchy or non-existent, but essential and in demand among analysts themselves.”

In practice, innovation is still a top-down event. “Most firms have not yet implemented even the most basic forms of employee consultation,” it said. Given that staff probably have the most intimate contact with customers, this lack raises the risk of developing products that do not match customers’ needs.

The report also called for tax breaks to encourage R&D by businesses. Governments should extend current tax breaks for R&D to non-R&D innovation activities such as technology transfer, training and industrial design, it added.

The report, Entrepreneurial innovation in Europe, is published by the Innovation Directorate of the European Commission’s Enterprise Directorate-General. E-mail: innovation@cec.eu.int.

Curved toothbrush debuts in ‘Frisco, Tokyo
US to delay label law?
NFPA wants WTO to block EU’s GM label law

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Innovation

Curved toothbrush debuts in ‘Frisco, Tokyo

A toothbrush with a patented convex head and tapered bristle array is to make its debut simultaneously in San Francisco and Tokyo.

The new Curvex toothbrush line, designed dentist Stephen Harada, is said to provide better contact the surfaces of teeth, front and back than traditional toothbrushes with a concave or flat bristle surface. The new tapered bristle array also reduces the common splaying of bristles, thus enhancing the tooth cleaning process, say the makers.

Developed by Ergonomic Dental Technologies, the Curvex toothbrush comes in sizes for adults and children. The line includes the innovative Curvex II with a specially designed head and handle for patients in periodontal treatment, braces and the like.

Labels

US to delay label law?

Food and ingredients importers in the US may have won a two-year reprieve from country of origin labelling laws.

US food industry groups and foreign food exporters had condemned the proposed legislation as unworkable and costly without improving food safety. The bill was part of a package of laws to safeguard food security following the 11 September and subsequent anthrax attacks.

Now the proposals are expected to form part of a $390bn spending bill that the Senate could vote on this week. Critics, including the Republican administration, say the label legislation would cost $3.9bn to implement in the first year.

NFPA wants WTO to block EU’s GM label law

The US National Food Processors Association (NFPA) wants the World Trade Organisation to block the European Union's new requirement to label and trace foods and feeds that contain genetically modified ingredients.

The new rules require foods containing more than 0.9% GM material to be labelled as such. NFPA president and chief executive John Cady described this as a barrier to trade.

"By finalising these new requirements, which NFPA has strongly opposed, the EU has turned away from food science and food safety, and has established a serious trade barrier that will keep many US food products out of the European market.

"European consumers will see such labels on food products as 'warning labels’,” he claimed. “However, there is no safety or nutrition issue associated with the products of agricultural biotechnology on the market, and there is no scientific basis for requiring the labelling of biotech foods”. 

He felt mandatory labelling should be based on the composition, intended use, and health and safety characteristics of a food product, not on the genetic process that produced it. 

He described the traceability requirements as “a classic case of regulatory overkill” because it put complex, costly and detailed new requirements on food companies, without a benefit for consumers.

"The World Trade Organisation now must address this issue, and take action to block these new, unnecessary requirements.  NFPA is working with the US Trade Representative, who understands the problem these new requirements will pose, to urge WTO to promptly move to resolve this issue."

However, the US’s refusal to scrap steel import tariffs, which the WTO has declared illegal, means that the EU is likely to ignore the NFPA’s comments for the moment.

Research 

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UK-based research firm Leatherhead Food International is seeking interested food, beverage and pharmaceutical firms to share in research into product innovation by controlling hydrocolloid and ingredient activity. 

Specific topics include: 

• Calcium stability in fortified beverages

• Controlling foam stability in foods

• Developing starch-based products with low glycaemic index

• Complex gelling systems for confectioneries and desserts 

• Alternatives to gelatin for microencapsulation of flavours, oils and nutraceuticals

• Shelf-life prediction 

Deadline for expressions of interest is 17 December. More details from John Madden T +44 (0)1372 376 761 E jmadden@leatherheadfood.com.