International Symposium on Innovation

Sustainable innovation is a key factor for economic success, for individual companies as well as for national economies. The integration of more memberstates into the European Union will bring new challenges to be faced by companies, research bodies, intermediaries and policy makers.

To discuss these aspects and to go a step further in innovation, an International Symposium on Innovation will be held on December 4th to 6th 2002 in Dorint Hotel Sanssouci Potsdam/Germany. This Symposium is organised within the 5 th EU Framework Programme and supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

The Symposium is divided into two parts:

1. The International Change and Improvement Workshop „Clustering: towards a new perspective for the European Innovation System“ will be held December 4 th – 5 th , 2002. 600 organisations have been directly and indirectly participating in the cluster building process among the Innovation Projects of the 5 th EU Framework Programme. During the International Workshop the new Innovation Projects from the 3 rd Innovation call will have the opportunity to join the process and be part of the cluster scheme.

The established clusters will start to implement action plans developed in a workshop in Brussels in October 2002. The main idea is to share knowledge and competencies in the fields of project management, marketing and dissemination as well as the involvement of small and medium enterprises as beneficiaries of the innovation process. Innovation Project partners and stakeholders will be able to communicate with each other and access internal and external information during and after the workshop via advanced web enabled tools. This process will lead to a dynamic and inspiring learning environment that stimulates and feeds innovation.

2. The International Conference „Improving Innovation – Challenges to be faced by companies, research bodies, intermediaries and policy makers“ will be held on December 6 th , 2002. The international conference will give an outlook on major trends in Innovation for the next decade. Questions of networking and co-operation, innovation acceptance and the influence of the Newly Associated Countries will be examined by international experts. The international conference is addressed to companies, research bodies, institutional organisations and policy makers.

The International Symposium on Innovation will be organised by the Accompanying Measures Cluster of the EC Innovation Programme. Please find further information about the Symposium and registration details at http://www.innovation-showcase.net

Contact:

VDI/VDE-Technologiezentrum Informationstechnik GmbH
Dr. Udo Hoppe
Rheinstr. 10 B, 14513 Teltow /Germany
Tel: +49-(0)3328-435215
Fax: +49-(0)3328-435104