TABD Recommendation on Innovation

Innovation drives economic growth and job creation through increased productivity. Innovation helps our economies adapt to challenges resulting from demographic change and the shift of economic gravity towards Asia. Therefore, enabling the formation of a Transatlantic Innovation Society must become a core element of the transatlantic partnership.

TABD recommends that the European Commission and the US Administration take action in the following areas to promote innovation:

HORIZONTAL PROPOSALS

• Promote Intellectual Property (IP) Protection
  In addition to our recommendations outlined by the Intellectual Property Rights/Anti-Counterfeiting Working Group, TABD believes that IP-protection is essential to drive innovation. Therefore, the TABD urges the EU and US to ensure adequate IP protection for all types of inventions, including computer implemented inventions (CII), biotechnology inventions and across all 25 EU member states. We also recommend that the EU and US adopt a joint approach to ensure high levels of protection and enforcement of IP rights in third-countries.
• Facilitate access to capital
  TABD urges the EU and the US to establish incentives for increased private-sector investment in research. TABD recommends the establishment of joint public-private partnerships, private venture capital funding and sustained transfer of technology between industry and academic research institutions.
• Foster transatlantic innovation clusters
  TABD recommends intensifying technology transfer between industry and academic research institutions. TABD members urge continued strong support for innovation clusters, and deepening scientific and professional exchanges so as to create transatlantic networks of excellence.
• Remove regulatory barriers
  TABD recommends using the Regulatory Cooperation Forum and acting upon its 2006 Recommendations. This will contribute to the innovation initiatives on both sides of the Atlantic by further minimizing unnecessary regulatory divergences. As noted in the TABD Economic Metrics Report released in June 2006, the removal of regulatory barriers would have a highly positive impact on both economies, resulting in a GDP boost to both economies of more than 3%.

SECTOR SPECIFIC PROPOSALS: HEALTHCARE

• Recognize healthcare as an infrastructure component
  Healthcare must be seen as an infrastructure component in the EU and the US, coupled with the political will to tackle common healthcare challenges. To this end, TABD welcomes the EU's decision to provide funds for healthcare infrastructure to the new EU members (see 7th Framework Programme 2007-2013).
• Establish a high-representative for e-health in Europe
  TABD recommends that the European Commission install a high-ranking representative for eHealth in Europe. The high-represenative should coordinate the eHealth activities of DGs and national Ministries of Health – similar to the "Office of the National Coordinator for Healthcare Information Technology" (ONCHIT) in the US. TABD recommends the EU and US engage in a transatlantic dialogue to select and rank preferred, globally-used standards.
• Convene a healthcare summit
  TABD proposes that the US Administration and the European Commission convene a high-level healthcare summit with significant stakeholder participation from industry and governments. Focus: "quality up – cost down" in healthcare. Concrete examples should be used to show the benefit of e-health and other healthcare innovations.

HEALTHCARE SPECIFIC REGULATORY COOPERATION ISSUES

• Internationalize standards
  TABD recommends that the US Administration and the European Commission commit to common global industry standards for the exchange of healthcare information. This will accelerate the deployment of eHealth and facilitate the Electronic Health Record.
• Eliminate regulatory barriers to healthcare innovations
  TABD recommends streamlining the regulatory approval process in the US and the EU for core healthcare-related technologies (including healthcare IT, molecular imaging, medical nanotechnologies), including separating market approval from pricing/reimbursement decisions in order to bring innovations to the patient more quickly. Accurate and complete information about all healthcare issues, products and technologies should be strongly encouraged by government regulators and made accessible to patients.
• Commit to a self-declaration process in the US
  TABD recommends that the US also use the European process of self-declaration by the manufacturers under the Medical Device Directive (MDD) to ensure the safety of software products.

FUTUREWORK

These Recommendations represent the initial TABD input to both the EU and US administrations' innovation policies. TABD suggests both governments initially focus on these priorities, which will be supplemented in the course of the coming months by additional recommendations to be developed in the area of energy efficiency.

The TABD looks forward to tracking progress and implementation of these recommendations and to contributing its business and technological expertise as needed.

For further information, please visit:

• TABD Innovation Conference Healthcare
• TABD Official website