#OI2Dublin – Dublin Declaration sets out a new business model for the European Union (video)

22 May 2013

Intel Labs' Prof Martin Curley

A new 10-point declaration drafted at the Open Innovation 2.0 conference at Dublin Castle is to be presented to the president of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso. The Dublin Declaration aims to make the EU more nimble in terms of turning research and technology into actual job creation.

A combination of 75 international experts and 350 delegates from around the world drafted the declaration, focusing on how innovation and technology will enable economic growth and job creation.

The Dublin Declaration aims to develop a new business model for the European Union and make open innovation, which involves the quadruple helix of citizens, universities, governments and businesses, the new official language of the European Union.

During the two-day conference, a number of factors were made clear:

Europe, despite excellent powerhouses of science and technology, is simply not as nimble as the US in terms of turning research into jobs and profits.
In the US, technology innovation has lead to a 75pc growth in the economy.
For every one technology job created in a country, a further 4.3 jobs are created in the local economy.

“With the support of the delegates and speakers here, at the end of what has been an enlightening and very positive two days of discussion, we have co-created an innovation manifesto which can now bring real change to Europe by creating more wealth, better welfare and improved well-being,” said Martin Curley, chairman of the EU Open Innovation Strategy and Policy Group and vice-president of Intel Labs Europe, one of the instigators of the Open Innovation 2.0 conference.

New innovative ways to tackle unemployment in Europe

Key points in the declaration presented to delegates include: a call to move from European Research Area to European Innovation Ecosystem; raising awareness of the importance of creating incentives to encourage openness to innovation and experimentation; recognising honourable failure as a positive; stimulate high expectation entrepreneurs; foster the essential collaboration between citizens, businesses, universities and government; and an overall call to create an EU Innovation Strategy leveraging the USA example.

The delegates resolved that the Innovation Luminary Awards would become an annual event within the European calendar.

“This conference, and The Dublin Declaration, has drawn attention to one of the most crucial elements of economic recovery – how to harness innovation and technology to bring about job creation,” said Peter Finnegan, director of Office of Economy and International Relations at Dublin City Council.

“The key to job growth in this economy lies in innovation and we welcome the development of this significant declaration in Dublin, positioning the city and the country to take the lead on embracing innovation.

“Faced with our current economic challenges, we need to find new and innovative ways to tackle unemployment. Open innovation as a driving force within a digital economy and society can create thousands of jobs in Dublin and this declaration shows that the conference has been hugely successful at developing real solutions which can be applied Europe-wide,” Finnegan said.