[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/5939\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n      1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n      2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n      3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n        \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n  \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EInnovation needs to be mainstream, President Barroso tells researchers, entrepreneurs\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Innovation is not just a policy for one commissioner or one director general, it is something that has to be a mainstream policy,\u2019 he said during the opening speech of the Brussels conference.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe said one thing that would help to stimulate innovation in Europe would be to tackle the fragmentation of the European digital market.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018When in the United States a small start-up has an idea, immediately their market is their whole internal market across the United States,\u2019 he said. \u2018In Europe it is absurd, as we still have 28 digital markets. How can we compete when we still have 28 digital markets?\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe idea behind the event was to stimulate research and entrepreneurship by linking up innovative people so they can network and exchange new ideas.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat includes young innovators, who took part in a panel discussion on what can be done to make things easier for them to develop their ideas. The panel included\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/horizon-magazine.eu\/article\/aspiring-computer-programmers-should-start-early-says-14-year-old-entrepreneur-jordan-casey\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;14-year-old programmer Jordan Casey\u003C\/a\u003E, Elif Bilgin from Turkey who developed a way to make plastic from banana skins, and Spanish computer programmer Alberto Elias.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Society puts out a very narrow road for people, and I know it\u2019s a clich\u00e9 but you need to get young people to think outside of the box because the road is actually much wider, you can do many things when you are young and we need to let them know that,\u2019 Elias told the event.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EM\u00e1ire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, told the panel: \u2018We need to look very differently at how we educate and stimulate and \u2026 we need to listen to what young people want.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018I would love to see ministers for education and research in each of the Member States actually sitting down with young people like those and listening to them,\u2019 she added.\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n  \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n  \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018The Innovation Union itself needs to be innovative by working always to create the very best conditions for innovation in the academic and business worlds.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n  \u003Cfooter\u003E\n    \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EMark Rutte, Prime Minister, the Netherlands\u003C\/cite\u003E\n  \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs well as young scientists, the event also included presentations from senior researchers such as Professor Serge Haroche, winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics. Prof. Haroche underlined the importance of government funding for blue sky research, even though the benefits may only become apparent years later.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe picked out the example of people who were looking into quantum mechanics research in the 1920s, when the term was first used by scientists in Germany.\u2018If you told them that these discoveries would have a big impact in the year 2000, they would not have cared,\u2019 he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEurope\u2019s universities are at the heart of blue sky research, and Lord Chris Patten, the Chancellor of the University of Oxford, in the UK, called on governments to step up their funding for universities during the Innovation Union lecture.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018If we want better universities, making a bigger and better contribution to our national and European life, then we have to spend more on them,\u2019 he said. \u2018Spending for the future seems hugely preferable to trying to protect and bail out the past, not something which finance ministers always seem to comprehend.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENew ideas\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs well as encouraging debate, the event included the first ever innovation inducement prize, an award\u0026nbsp;which asked researchers to solve the challenge of how to make vaccines stable at room temperature.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe problem is that most vaccines need to be stored in refrigerators, making them expensive and difficult to get to people in some developing countries.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe EUR 2 million prize was won by German biopharmaceutical company CureVac GmbH, who made vaccines that could be stored at room temperature by using RNA, a messenger molecule that is hardier than DNA.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022img_legend\u0022 style=\u0022float: left;\u0022\u003E\u003Cfigure role=\u0022group\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\u0022The Innovation Convention included an exhibition of new technology which has resulted from EU research funding, such as the ZHEST model of a supersonic jet that could fly from Europe to Japan in less than three hours.\u0022 height=\u0022133\u0022 src=\u0022\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/innovation%20convention%2001.JPG\u0022 title=\u0022The Innovation Convention included an exhibition of new technology which has resulted from EU research funding, such as the ZHEST model of a supersonic jet that could fly from Europe to Japan in less than three hours.\u0022 width=\u0022200\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022tw-italic tw-mb-4\u0022\u003EThe Innovation Convention included an exhibition of new technology which has resulted from EU research funding, such as the ZHEST model of a supersonic jet that could fly from Europe to Japan in less than three hours.\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n\u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003Cem\u003EThe Innovation Convention included an exhibition of new technology which has resulted from EU research funding, such as the ZHEST model of a supersonic jet that could fly from Europe to Japan in less than three hours.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018This prize of EUR 2 million recognises a real leap forwards in vaccine technology,\u2019 Robert-Jan Smits, the Director-General of Research \u0026amp; Innovation, said as the winners were announced. \u2018It rewards a group that has made significant advances which may allow the elimination of cold chain and which, in turn, can greatly increase the reach and effectiveness of global vaccination programmes.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGerman \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/horizon-magazine.eu\/article\/parkinson-s-researcher-gets-top-women-entrepreneur-award-innovators-gather_en.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EParkinson\u2019s disease researcher Dr Saskia Biskup\u003C\/a\u003E, co-founder of CeGaT GmbH, received the top award at the second of its EU Prize for Women Innovators during the event.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Spanish city of Barcelona also won the iCapital award and became the first European capital of innovation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Barcelona is a deserving winner of the first iCapital award, for its dedication to using new technology for the benefit of its inhabitants,\u2019 Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn said. \u2018Still, there were many other great initiatives and proposals, and I want cities and regions to join together and share their experiences.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Innovation Convention and the awards associated with it are all part of the EU\u2019s strategy to make Europe more innovation-friendly by funding more than research projects.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDutch\u0026nbsp;Prime Minister Mark Rutte underlined the importance of going beyond research funding.\u0026nbsp;\u2018The Innovation Union itself needs to be innovative by working always to create the very best conditions for innovation in the academic and business worlds,\u2019 he told the event.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n            \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n      Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n    \u003C\/div\u003E\n  \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-jntbcxay5stkbxectpa1uiqkg5qxiatdltfwu-2yiwm\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-jntbcxAY5StkbxecTpA1uiqKg5qXIatDLtFWu-2YIwM\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]