36 Amendments of Hermann WINKLER related to 2011/2107(INI)
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Emphasises that regional aid for innovation, research and entrepreneurship has, rightly, grown in significance over the decades; notes that, in the current programming period, around 25% of all Structural Fund monies have been spent on such aid, and considers that, in view of the EU 2020 objectives, this proportion should in any case be maintained – a strong and well- resourced regional policy already being a fundamental requirement in that regard; takes the view, moreover, that no effort must be spared to make the outflow of funds to the regions more efficient;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Points out that, at times when financial resources are scarce, it is crucial that funding is allocated to intelligently selected priorities in the regions so as to reach a critical mass;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls on the Commission to propose, alternatively, further incentives for the use of Structural Fund subsidies in the field of innovation;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the regions, in line with the ‘smart specialisation’ approach, to develop tailored innovation strategies; stresses that territorial cooperation must be optimised with a view to greater complementarity betweenand, as part of those strategies, to specify how potential synergies between Structural Funds assistance and the future research and innovation programmes can be put to practical use to benefit the regions;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas, although EU funding for R&D&I has been increasing, scientifically and technologically more developed EU Member States (MS) still absorb the greatest slice of the available resources under the various funding schemes and programmes (including large-scale projects), perpetuating the under- representativeness of some MS and their European regions in terms both of access to funding and of participation,
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the regions, in line with the ‘smart specialisation’ approach, to develop tailored innovation strategies; stresses that territorial cooperation must be optimised with a view to greater complementarity between regions, calls in this regard for a better articulation and coordination between local, regional, national and European authorities;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Recommends at the same time that the regions candidly analyse, in particular, their strengths and weaknesses, and set realistic targets with a view to, on the one hand, developing current strengths (their comparative advantage) in order to establish strong, competitive international clusters and, on the other, to catching up with other regions, thus strengthening the regional economy;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls for a stronger intergovernmental participation of Joint Programming measures and under Interreg III B, which strengthens the cooperation in research, development and innovation throughout Europe, also with the view to increase participation and better involvement of new Member States in all European research programmes;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Points out, however, that in addition to the individual regions’ interest in economic growth, the EU as a whole should be seen as an innovation area, which means that the regions should complement one another; therefore calls on the regions to work closely together in drawing up their research and innovation strategies; welcomes, in this regard, the assistance of the Commission, which can provide the regions with valuable pointers and should ensure that the strategies are of a high quality, without calling into question the principle of subsidiary;
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3c. Stresses that a fundamental requirement for such a synergy- generating, integrated strategy is for all authorities involved to be aware of all the funding possibilities; points out that awareness-raising in this regard is also financed from the Structural Funds;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Points out that innovation is a broad concept, which above all lies at the interface with practice and concerns products, processes and services as well as systems and organisational structures; recommends, therefore, as the necessary complement to excellence in technological research, placing the focus of regional support, on support for applications, without preventing research capacity from being built upthe one hand, on developing regional excellence, principally at universities and research centres, and, on the other, ion order above all to enable companies to develop innovative methodssupport for applications, i.e. supporting companies – medium-sized businesses in particular – in making innovations in services and processes marketable, and fostering transfers of technology and exchanges of know-how;
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. wishes to have an action plan for the ‘Stairway to Excellence’, for the realisation of Research Infrastructures, under the Cohesion Fund and the ERDF; to boost the participation in these countries to the next Common Framework Programme on Research and Innovation;
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Stresses the need to establish the concept of the stairway to excellence, which must entail improving regional networks linking research institutes, universities, SMEs and other relevant stakeholders, so as to create clusters, regional technology platforms and centres of excellence, with a view to helping such networks take part in EU cooperation projects and programmes for research and innovation;
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. In the light of the need to improve the extent to which SMEs are benefiting from support for research and innovation, considers that this should be made a focus of cohesion policy, for example in relation to internationalisation or promotion of entrepreneurshipregional support for innovation should focus on medium-sized businesses; stresses in this regard the added value of the cohesion policy in making regionally oriented SMEs in traditional business fields more innovative by offering greater access to research oriented towards practical application, transfer of technology and innovation, as well as internationalisation or promotion of entrepreneurship by means of wider- ranging advisory services and easily accessible support;
Amendment 55 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. In the light of the need to improve the extent to which SMEs are benefiting from support for research and innovation, considers that this should be made a focus of cohesion policy, for example in relation to internationalisation or promotion of entrepreneurship, stresses, in this regard, the need for KICs to focus more on SME participation;
Amendment 56 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. wishes to see the continuation and strengthening of the ‘Regions of Excellence’, in which the territorial dimension of Research and Development is fostered;
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Amendment 60 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission, despite the differences in systems of governance, to aim to achieve maximumas much harmonisation of rules for the funding of programmes; as possible; acknowledges the validity of both the centrally managed approach of FP7 and the CIP and the decentralised approach of the Structural Funds; emphasises, however, the need to harmonise, insofar as possible, rules processes and methods (with regard to eligibility criteria, standard unit costs and lump sums, for example);
Amendment 66 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Considers the excessive administrative requirements to be a serious impediment to achieving cohesion policy objectives and therefore calls for the processing of grants and the monitoring systems to be greatly simplified;
Amendment 67 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the Commission to strengthen the synergy between different instruments and funds and to develop a multi-fund approach, while respecting the specific conditions set out in the respective legislation;
Amendment 69 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Amendment 73 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Calls for a clear coordination between existing and new initiatives under the EU2020 strategy.
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls for a better articulation and coordination between local and regional, national and European research and innovation strategies, respecting the specificities of the different contexts and, at the same time, reinforcing the possibilities for complementarity and cooperation between them; believes that sharing information and results is of key importance here;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Underlines the fact that at the core of the CSF should be the idea that the differing nature and scale of R&D&I projects, together with the multiplicity of funding schemes, must be organised in such a way that coherence, articulation and, complementarity and excellence are ensured;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Is convinced that different tasks within the CSF should be tackled separately but in close articulation: the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) to operate mainly as a network of Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) to concentrate on its strength in supporting innovative SMEs and therefore not necessarily to be included in the next FP; the next FPCSF; the CSF to embrace research and innovation as a whole; and the structural/cohesion funds to be used in closer cooperationa more targeted approach but kept separate;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls for clarification, simplification and reorganisation of the different EU programmes and instruments in existence, for a clear definition of the overall funding system, and for the EU research and innovation programmes budget for the next financial period to be doubled as of 2014 (excluding the budgetin addition to the budget for research, development and innovation devoted to Structural Funds and the EIB), as the appropriate response to the current economic crisis and to the great shared challenges; suggests, therefore, a new organisational model based on three different layers of funding aimed at stability and convergence:
Amendment 164 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. The funding scheme within this layer includes the funding provided through the EIT, the part of the FP concerning the Capacities Programme and Marie Curie initiatives, the European funding components of large-scale projects, access to loans by the EIB (covering projects over EUR 50 million and the RSFF), grants associated with the above-mentioned components of the FP, and cooperation with Structural Funds associated with infrastructure;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Stresses the need for KICs with a more narrow focus and consequently a more concentrated network with a smaller sized budget, which also enables more SME participation due to lower annual contribution costs; believes that these smaller KICs can create a single focal point in the EU as a meeting place for scientists from all over the EU in order to better compete on the global market;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10b. Calls on the Commission to strengthen the synergy between different instruments and funds and to develop a multi-fund approach, while respecting the specific conditions set out in the respective legislation;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. This layer is the space for overall research, fundamental and applied, and social sciences and humanities; coordination participants arefrom universities and, research centres/institutes, althoughnd the industrial sector (including SMEs) should be encouraged to participate and act as project coordinators as appropriate;
Amendment 225 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. This layer is the space for marketing offostering the market uptake of innovative products and services and generation of public wealth; innovative SMEs play a pivotal role here in developing novel products and services;
Amendment 262 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Stresses that increased participation by SMEs needs appropriate funding instruments that respond to their specificities, including an increased margin of the tolerable risk of error; within this scenario soft loans should be considered, which are reimbursed in the event of success, excluding administrative costs; to enable a more trust-based and risk-tolerant approach to the benefit of SMEs and all other CSF participants, the margin of the tolerable risk of error should be increased;
Amendment 291 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23a. Calls for a stronger intergovernmental participation under the Joint Programming measures, which strengthens the cooperation in research, development and innovation throughout Europe;
Amendment 345 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Paragraph 26 a (new)
26a. Calls for a clear coordination with the new initiatives under the EU2020 strategy, such as the Innovation Union and other relevant Flagship Projects;
Amendment 353 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Calls for a balance to be kept between bottom-up (cooperative) and top-down projects (’great societal challenges’), as well as for smaller bottom-up projects to be facilitated; in this respect, believes that the smart specialisation concept in the Regional Policy can foster the uptake of these bottom-up projects;
Amendment 374 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Calls for an intensification of international cooperation through effective reinforcement of capacity building and the establishment of fair partnerships with fast growing countries such as the BRIC- countries and developing countries in order better to tackle global challenges;