Innovation key to Europe's success in global market

Product innovation within the industry was a central theme at Colipa's general assembly held in Switzerland last week where speakers included the deputy director general of DG Enterprise Françoise Le Bail.

Commission supports industry innovation According to Le Bail the cosmetics industry is one of the most fast moving and innovative industries in Europe and the Commission is working to facilitate this.

The Lisbon strategy which aims to make Europe a more competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy has significantly boosted EU innovation since its introduction in 2005, she said.

Although the US is still ahead of the EU in terms of the proportion of exports that can be classed as high tech (a measure of innovative goods), the gap has diminished in the past few years.

One focus of the strategy is an attempt to increase Europe's spending on R&D to 3 per cent of its GDP and although Le Bail highlighted there is still some way to go (R&D spending is currently at 2 per cent) she did say that member states had begun to increase R&D spending.

Cost of taking innovations to market In addition, Le Bail highlighted the recent simplification of the EU Cosmetics Directive which she argued could cut costs of putting goods on the market for small to medium sized enterprises by up to 50 per cent.

The cost of taking goods to market was also highlighted by Philip Sheppard from the European Brands Association (AIM).

For Sheppard, innovation policy should not be focused simply on R&D as successful innovations have to be brought to market quickly.

In today's environment competitor response to a new product is very quick, and if a company cannot successfully market a product swiftly it will not capitalise on the significant R&D spending it paid out in the development stages.

"Legislation can increase the time it takes for a company to get a product on the market at a time when this needs to be decreased," he said.

Sheppard emphasised the fact that Europe will never be able to compete in a global marketplace on price alone but that it must focus on high value added products.

Communication innovation to the consumer Ellen Raphael from the UK-based group Sense about Science was also present at the assembly to discuss how to get the public to buy into new innovations.

A key to communicating new developments to the public is gauging the current state of understanding and working from there, she said.

Providing information about the new developments is vital to gaining consumer support and staying silent on any potentially controversial issues will only lead to consumer mistrust, she added.