References

Crawford, M.B. (2009) Shop class as soulcraft, an inquiry into the value of work, Penguin, London.
Drewe, P. (2010a) Innovations - a way out of the economic crisis for cities and regions?, in A. Kuklinski, E. Malak-Petlicka & P. Zuber (eds) Southern Italy - Eastern Germany - Eastern Poland. The Triple Mezzogiorno?, Ministry of Regional Development, Warsaw: 87-104.
Drewe, P. (2010b) Innovation: theory and practice:
Drewe, P. (2010c) 'Europe 2020' between "sustainable recovery" and "lost decade", in A. Kuklinski, J, Muszynski, G. Roman & J. Waszkiewicz (eds) Europa Quo Vadis? Marshal's Office of Lower Silesia & Lower Silesia Foundation for Regional Deveopment, Wroclaw: 187-192.
Drewe, P. (2010d) Long waves of innovation as turning points? (unpublished).
Drewe, P, (2011) Europe: innovate or perish! (unpublished).
European Commission (2010) Europe 2020, a strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, Brussels.
Francois, J. & Woerz, J. (2007) Producer services, manufacturing linkages, and trade, Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper, TI 2007=045/2, Amsterdam & Rotterdam.
Johnson, S. (2010) Where good ideas come from, the natural history of innovation, Riverhead, New York.
Le Monde (2011) L'Europe et le retour en grace de l'industrie, Editorial, January 6.
Notre Europe (2010) Contribution a la consultation de la Commission sur la future strategie "EU 2020":
Office of Technology Assessment (1990) Making things better, competing in manufacturing, Washington, D.C.
 Schwennicke, C. (2011) Comeback des Superstars, Deutschland und Europa koennen politischen Moden souveraen trotzen, Der Spiegel, Nr. 2: 26-27.
Skidelsky, R, (2009) The return of the master, Allen Lane, London.


 







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Notre Europe has advocated five points:
- a more precise diagnosis
- to limit the strategy to a few objectives, clearly defined and leading to actions
- to distinguish between interventions on the European level and those on the national level, reinforcing the former
- to reinforce the Open Method of Coordination, including new ways of sanctioning the bad performance of member states or regions
- to adopt a realistic time schedule
We would like to add another point:
- the top-down approach of European innovation policy should be combined with a bottom-up approach (see Drewe, 2011)

What is at stake here is a Sustainable recovery as against a Sluggish recovery or a Lost decade. The three scenarios for Europe by 2020 reveal an important truth: uncertainty rules even beyond innovation and industrial policy (Drewe, 2010c).
One only has to (re)read Keynes to grasp the importance of uncertainty (Skidelsky, 2009 refers) also with regard to long waves of innovation (Drewe, 2010d).

[1] Note that Schumpeter's definition of innovation also included new forms of organization, new markets and new sources of raw materials or semi-manufactured products.

How important is the European Union for making things better?
The European Commission (2010) in 'Europe 2020' has launched the Innovation Union 'to improve framework conditions and access to finance for research and innovation so as to insure that innovative ideas can be turned into products and services that create jobs'. There is a second so-called flagship initiative relevant to industry called  An industrial policy for the globalisation era: to improve the business environment notably for SMSEs, and to support the development of a strong and sustainable industrial base able to compete globally'. The EU has invented a Common Agricultural Policy catering to some 6% of the total labor force (it is also the most important budget item of the EU). A 'Common Industrial Policy' catering to some 26% of the labor force (not counting producer services) could also make sense.
The Lisbon Strategy, the predecessor of 'Europe 2020' has been grosso modo a failure. Even the Commission staff in its 'pro domo'  evaluation had hinted at this: 'Whilst much has been achieved, the overall pace of implementing the reforms was both slow and uneven...' Notre Europe (2010) has pointed out thatb the political failures affecting the functioning of the Lisbon Strategy have not been analyzed by the Commission hence the risk of repeating the same mistakes.