A potential big hitter emerges as the Commission's Innovation supremo.

An unexpectedly confident and well-informed performance by Ireland’s Máire Geoghegan-Quinn during the European Parliament’s interrogation of incoming EU Commissioners leaves the impression she could be an inspired choice for the role of Innovation Supremo.

After a ten-year stint in leafy Luxembourg at the European Court of Auditors and with few credentials on paper in the area of research and innovation, the nomination of this former Irish politician came as somewhat of a surprise.  Yet faced with a detailed grilling by the parliament’s industry, research and enterprise (ITRE) committee,  Geoghegan-Quinn gave as good as she got and held her own. 

Instead of trotting out the usual innovation mantra about increased funding and resources, she zeroed in on a number of key practical bottlenecks, in particular the need to sort out operating rules surrounding EU innovation programmes and a pressing requirement to deliver research to where society most needs it: climate change, energy and ageing population.

During her time with the EU’s financial watchdog in Luxembourg, Geoghegan-Quinn has not only become familiar, in name if not detail, with the EU’s big research programmes but has also closely read performance reviews and critiques of how the vast sums funding them are spent.  

Her overriding message to the Parliament is that money should be directed to where society most needs it – particularly with a focus on jobs - and that any  blockages in the pipeline should be cleared.

Her complaint that researchers are left exasperated by the complexity and bureaucracy of the EU funding process fell on sympathetic ears.  Small firms and researchers, she said, are driven mad by the financial restrictions imposed on them and she claims she will put her weight behind a big push for simplification in many areas. 

“When dealing with big and small research projects, one size does not fit all,” she declared.  “The criteria for the ‘tolerable risk of error’ need to be reviewed.” 

An early leitmotif of her tenure will be the relaxation of rules and control procedures for small projects. 

“You don’t get innovation without taking any risk,” she said.  “The world of zero risk is a world of zero innovation.”

Geoghegan-Quinn was nevertheless quick to demonstrate her Court of Auditors’ pedigree by stressing that “we must not compromise sound financial management”, obviously at ease with accountancy-speak in calling for an end to the “single audit strategy”.  

One of the first tasks for the Innovation Commissioner is delivery of a plan to simplify the whole innovation funding process. 

A key document underpinning this will be a recently launched interim evaluation of the FP7 programme  which should be ready within a couple of months. Geoghegan-Quinn says she will be examining it closely. 

A further key casualty of her no nonsense approach may be the Innovation Act which was flagged up by DG Enterprise last year. It is definitely on hold until the new group of Commissioners agree their work programme, though she went to lengths to diplomatically stress “it will be part of the programme but it is too early to say when” – a clear message that she wants strong input on its shape. 

Another obstacle to the innovation process highlighted by Geoghegan-Quinn is the protection of ownership rights and she is already planning a get-together with the new Commissioner at the helm of the Internal Market, Michel Barnier. In her sights is the proposal for a Community Patent system which has been locked up in arcane disputes over linguistic and translation requirements - with patent protection in Europe costing twenty times more in the European Union than in the United States, this is no minor issue. 

Geoghegan-Quinn assured the European Parliament she is up to the challenge – she evidently has the personality to deliver tangible results and with her Irish notions of common sense could bring a welcome breath of fresh air to the corridors of the Commission as she bangs the relevant heads together.

By Nigel Griffiths, Brussels based writer and EU affairs consultant

Added 01 February 2010 in category Innovation blog