European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani, Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship said; "Today’s competitiveness and innovation framework programme has supported thousands of European SMEs in their efforts to become more competitive and innovative. It has promoted the take up and use of ICT, encouraged eco-innovation, energy efficiency and the use of renewables. Today, the Commission is asking European citizens, companies, interest organisations and governments how EU money in support of competitiveness and innovation should be spent in the future."

The public consultation on competitiveness and innovation EU funding is part of an impact assessment and of a broader reflection on the next financial multiannual framework of the European Union after 2013. The scope and objectives of the future programmes are not yet decided, but the public consultation will help to design a possible successor to the current Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP 2007-2013).

CIP 2007-2013 consists of three operational programmes: the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (EIP), the ICT - Policy Support Programme (ICT-PSP) and the Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) programme. Each programme has its specific objectives:

The EIP seeks to support innovation and SMEs in the EU, focusing on:

* better access to finance for SMEs through venture capital and loan guarantees;
* providing services to business via the "Enterprise Europe Network” centres in and beyond the EU;
* support for innovation;
* eco-innovation pilot and market replication projects for the testing of innovative technologies.

The ICT-PSP aims at stimulating the uptake of innovative and interoperable ICT based services through:

* funding pilot and networking actions;
* stimulating the demand for ICT based innovation in areas of public interest such as ICT for health, ageing and inclusion, energy efficiency and smart mobility, and improved public services;
* analysing, monitoring and benchmarking the uptake of digital services in Europe.

The IEE contributes to delivering the EU's climate change and energy targets through:

* addressing the non-technology barriers to sustainable energy deployment;
* facilitating investments in sustainable energy projects at the local and regional level;
* developing training and qualification schemes for energy efficiency and renewable energy in the building sector;
* supporting development and implementation of the EU sustainable energy policy.

The public consultation is open from 8 November 2010 to 4 February 2011. To complement the consultation, a conference will take place in Brussels on 25 January 2011 to give stakeholders an additional opportunity to express their views on the future orientation of a possible EU competitiveness and innovation programme.

More information: http://ec.europa.eu/cip/index_en.htm

The consultation: http://ec.europa.eu/cip/public_consultation/index_en.htm