A smarter, greener economy is the key platform of the Europe 2020 strategy that the European Commission will unveil officially on March 3. Once the Commission puts its ideas on the table, the strategy will be debated across Europe with a view to being approved by the Heads of State and Government at the Spring European Council at the end of March.

A preview of the strategy was presented yesterday (Feb 24) to an invited audience of diplomatic representatives, business leaders and regional councillors in an event organised by the European Commision Representation in Dublin. The keynote speech was delivered by Mr Conor Lenihan TD Minister of State with special responsibility for Science, Technology and Innovation and Natural Resources. Martin Territt, Head of the European Commission Representation in Ireland, Dr. Eckehard Rosenbaum, Policy Analyst in the Directorate-General Enterprise and Industry, Brendan Butler, director of strategy, trade, EU and international affairs at IBEC and Paul Sweeney, Economic Advisor at ICTU, also spoke at the event.

Welcoming the speakers and guests, Mr Martin Territt, Head of the European Commission Representation in Ireland, reminded the audience of the depth of the crisis – a 4% drop in GDP across Europe in 2009, a 20% fall in industrial production and 23 million unemployed. The Europe 2020 strategy, he said, encompasses three key priorities for sustainable growth and jobs. Firstly, growth based on knowledge and innovation; secondly, an inclusive high-employment society; thirdly, green growth and a competitive and sustainable economy.

In the keynote speech, Mr Conor Lenihan TD, Minister of State at the Departments of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Education and Science, with special responsibility for Science, Technology and Innovation and Natural resources stressed that "The new strategy for sustainable growth and employment must take account of the immediate challenges of the changed economic environment. For Ireland, two elements – jobs and growth – must remain central to all our efforts as we seek to put in place a successor Strategy to Lisbon. Implementing a “smart economy” also means that we must increase the emphasis on both the efficiency and effectiveness of our research expenditure and on the synergies between investment in research, education and innovation. There is a strong need to demonstrate the tangible economic and societal benefits that arise from research in order to be able to sustain our investments. We must also continue to learn from each other in terms of mechanisms to improve the environment for industry-academic collaboration."

Minister Lenihan congratulated Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn in her appointment as Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science and said how particularly pleased he was that this portfolio is now held by an Irish person. "There is a high degree of complementarity between Ireland’s objectives in science, technology and innovation and wider European objectives in this area. The goals of European research and innovation policies are consistent with Ireland's strategy to be one of the world’s leading knowledge-based economies" said the Minister.

Dr. Eckehard Rosenbaum, Policy Analyst in the Directorate-General Enterprise and Industry, who is responsible for the analysis of economic reforms in Ireland in the context of the growth and jobs strategy, highlighted certain key aspects of Europe 2020. "First" he said "there will be a stronger focus on social aspects and an inclusive society. This implies empowering people through appropriate education and skills. But it also implies providing adequate social protection obviously. Relevant policies in this respect could touch on making life-long learning more accessible for example, or they could aim at removing obstacles to labour mobility, for instance by improving the recognition of qualifications across Europe. Second, Europe 2020 will be a green-growth-strategy. And this means tackling climate change and turning the EU into a resource efficient economy. But it also means fostering the competitiveness of European manufacturing, for instance by improving the conditions for commercialising intellectual property, by fostering structural change towards greater eco-efficiency or by facilitating the access to finance. Last but not least, the imbalances in the Euro area have to be addressed. As pointed out by President van Rompuy, recommendations for the euro area as a whole and its Member States should focus more strongly on competitiveness and macroeconomic imbalances" said Dr Rosenbaum.

Brendan Butler from IBEC said that Ireland should be comfortable with a plan for a smarter, greener economy as Irish industry had a strong high technology component and maintained excellent environmental standards. He called for closer links between universities and businesses and for applied research that led to products ready for market.

From ICTU, Paul Sweeney said that the strategy was a good start but more effort was required. The unions, he said, were in favour of the social market and policies of inclusion. But, he questioned grounding the strategy in the Growth and Stability Pact which, he said, has been broken and re-iterated the unions' opposition to deflationary measures as a means of exiting from the crisis.