The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Jorgo CHATZIMARKAKIS (ALDE, DE) and adopted a package of 145 compromise clauses that were agreed with the Council and Commission. (Please see the summary of 04/05/2006.) As part of the deal reached with Council, the budget for the programme, running from 2007 to 2013, will be reduced from the Commission's original proposal of EUR 4 212.6 million to EUR 3 196 million. This amount, however, is far more than the European Council’s position of 16 December 2005 which included a reduction of more than 50 %.
The main points are as follows:
- the CIP must contribute to closing the gap
between research and innovation and promote all forms of innovation;
- Parliament underlined that particular attention should be paid to the
needs of SMEs;
- after the entry into force of the Framework Programme, the Commission will publish a readable and user-friendly User Manual establishing a clear, simple and transparent framework of general principles for the participation of beneficiaries in the Framework Programme. This should in particular facilitate the participation of SMEs;
- the compromise also gives eco-innovation more importance and clarifies certain actions. The annual report of the "Entrepreneurship and Innovation" specific programme must clearly identify eco-innovation activities. Action in relation to eco-innovation may include: supporting the take-up of environmental technologies and eco-innovative activities; co-investment in risk capital funds that provide equity also for companies investing in eco‑innovation in accordance with the procedure set out in Annex II; fostering eco-innovation networks and clusters, public-private partnerships in eco-innovation and developing innovative business services, facilitating or promoting eco-innovation; promoting new and integrated approaches on eco-innovation in fields such as environmental management and the environmental-friendly design of products, processes and services, taking into account their whole life cycle.
- Parliament inserted a new clause on innovation and eco-innovation pilot and market replication projects. This states that the Community will provide support to projects concerned with the first applications or market replication of innovative or eco-innovative techniques, products or practices of Community relevance, which have already been technically demonstrated with success but owing to residual risk, have not yet significantly penetrated the market. These will be designed to promote their broader utilisation within the participating countries and facilitate their market uptake.
- the monitoring and evaluation aspects of implementation of the CIP are improved;
- the Commission should be advised by a Strategic Advisory Board on Competitiveness and Innovation composed of representatives of industry and business associations (including those representing SMEs), and other experts;
Finally, the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme will have a budget of EUR 2.17 billion including EUR 430 million for the promotion of eco-innovation, the ICT Policy Support Programme will receive a budget of EUR 730 million and the Intelligent Energy- Europe Programme EUR 730 million.