“The biggest problem is government attitude. If governments were willing to spend more on national R&D, then this would not only really help lift that individual nation, but all of Europe.”

Keith Jeffery, President of ERCIM

“You cannot avoid the need for European industry to become and remain competitive. There are many aspects to that, most of which have to do with politics, economics, trade and the like, but some have to do with basic research, which in  the end has to be funnelled into that chain of innovation.”

Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker, ERC Secretary General

“eStrategies is a key publication for highlighting European projects and their contributors for the benefit of the political, business and scientific communities in Europe.”

Keith Jeffery, President of ERCIM

“This high-profile, Europe-wide programme is designed to bring forward the most ambitious, far-reaching research projects without restriction on the field of study.”

Professor Fotis Kafotos, ERC

“The IRE Network has become an important part of European regions’ ability to manage regional innovation policies. It is a major contributor to the ‘pact’ of commitment from political, business and social leaders that drives the agenda towards an innovative Europe.”

Dana Toader, IRE Secretariat

“More often than not, the whole world can freely access the findings of basic research, whilst when it comes to applications, the emphasis lies on the competitive advantages of those who invest in the exploitation of the development in question.”

Dr Dirk-Meints-Polter, Former member for the Fraunhofer Executive Board

“The EGI organisation will be operational in early 2010. This is the missing link from the Europe Research Area that will help us to compete and cooperate with research structures elsewhere in the world.”

Dieter Kranzlmüller, Project Director of the European Grid Initiative (EGI)

“Private and public enterprises are more likely to succeed in the future if they understand how social interactions in Internet-based networks reshape relationships and channels between producers and consumers, and between individuals and groups within and outside organisations.”

Bill Dutton, Director of Oxford University’s Internet Institute

“R&D in Poland is on a fast-growth track, because of the large pool of young talents, a rapidly growing economy, the competitive cost of R&D and the availability of EC structural funding.”

Krzysztof Kurzydlowski, Undersecretary of State, Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education

“The goals that we pursue today through scientific and technological advancement exist in a globalised context, a world in which we are constantly faced with new challenges that pay no heed to national boundaries. So it makes sense for the EU to have a European scientific and research policy.”

Dr Roland Schenkel, Director General of the JRC

“Money for fundamental, free research should always be there. Freedom and creativity should be allowed to flourish.”

Marja Makarow, CEO ESF

“In the US just one research institution, the University of California-San Francisco in the Silicon Valley innovation cluster, has generated companies with a combined market value of $90bn.”

Jean-Philippe Courtois, President of Microsoft International

“If you do not aim for a global standard, then it will be very difficult at a later stage to create real, worldwide interoperability… Today we have global markets, so we need global standards.”

Walter Weigel, Director General of ETSI

“Europe as a whole now has a deficit across the board in R&D investment. European companies have been investing more money outside Europe for R&D, than companies outside Europe investing in R&D inside Europe. That deficit is a major challenge for Europe and we have to redress the balance.”

Esko Aho, Former Finnish Prime Minister

“The worldwide contest for talent is in full swing. China has moved up to third place in the league of the most research-intensive countries.”

Dr Annette Schavan, German Minister of Education and Research

“There is a series of problems that women scientists must face at different stages of their lives. To get to the stage when this inequality is more balanced, we are going to have to address the way in which science is taught from an early age.”

Baroness Susan Greenfield, Royal Institution Director

“EPWS offers a discussion forum for women scientists and policy makers at regional, national and EU level, and acts as a structural link between women researchers and research policy makers in Europe.”

Dr Adelheid Ehmke, The European Platform of Women Scientists’ (EPWS) President

“Governmental policies need to be adapted to the reality of a knowledge-based society while not abandoning the best assets of a welfare based society. We must favour, also through taxation, more investment in R&D and education, perhaps at the expense of other investments with a lower overall impact.”

Luuk Borg, Head of the EUREKA Secretariat

“Technology always needs to have a justifiable, social and practical purpose to attract investment. Research should not be undertaken for research’s sake, just as technology should not be created for technology’s sake. There must be a good reason and an economic reason, a reason that justifies the expense that has been invested.”

Dr Joao Da Silva, Director from DG Information Society

“What we found in ongoing research is that there are few women engaged in applied research. If we succeed in interesting more young women in a career in natural sciences and technology, they will later participate in R&D processes.”

Martina Schraudner, Fraunhofer Society

“The message given out by EU and ESA ministers could not be clearer: the time has come to put space at the service of the daily life of citizens.”

Giuseppe Morsillo, Head of Director’s Office at European Space Agency

“Our future challenge is to ensure that UK business and academia make even better commercial use of the intellectual property generated in research.”

Ian Pearson, UK Minister of Science and Innovation

“Chinese R&D has been rising by 20 per cent a year over the past five years. Indian R&D has trebled in a decade. Indian engineers are flooding the world.”

Tony Blair, Former British Prime Minister

“The difficulty faced by European high growth potential SMEs in their growth is a key issue for our economy. As Mr Anthony Giddens, economic advisor of Tony Blair, used to say, the main problem in Europe is that its young innovative companies do not turn into world leaders.”

Emmanuel LePrince, Chairman of the European Association for Hi-Tech SMEs

“Companies do get pressure from governments to move R&D facilities to countries in order to get market access. This is in direct violation of the WTO (World Trade Organisation) and is one of those things that is simply not enforced.”

Robert Atkinson, Head of the US ITIF

“In the knowledge-based economy, networking key stakeholders is one of the most important tools available to enhance regional competitiveness.”

Christian Saublens, Director of EURADA, the Association of Regional Development Agencies

“Europe still has the edge. Finland, for example, can be held up as a role model and I also think the UK is well respected because what we have done here is we have developed more sustainable science parks, which aren’t simply living on public funding.”

Jane Davies, Chairman of the UK Science Park Association

“We need to reinforce our capacity to innovate. It is the only way we can be protected from competition.”

Arnaldo Abruzzini, Eurochambre

“Electronic devices give us more and more time and new scope for creativity. And that is what we most urgently need if, with the aid of innovations, we are to develop a positive outlook for the future.”

Dr Hans-Jorg Bullinger, President of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft

“It is very clear that, mainly for the welfare of the population and its low unemployment rate, we have to compete more in this globalised market.”

Walter Weigel, Director General of ETSI

“Knowledge Transfer or Knowledge Exchange – the process of taking theory into practice and giving research the commercial justification it needs, must be sustainable.”

Dr Tim Hughes, Bristol Business School

“Innovation cannot be explained with money. The success of mechanical engineering lies in the effective application of innovation resources.”

Hans-Jorg Bullinger, Fraunhofer President

“Nowadays economic development is measured in terms of how well nations have adapted to the knowledge society and their ability to handle complex, abstract information… Indeed, there is a general push towards Grid computing from those nations which realise its potency.”

Rene Belso, Danish Member of European Grid Initiative (EGI)

“Security research has been given greater priority in European research programmes. It is an important element in the EU’s 7th Framework Programme. The EU intends to invest a total of 1.4 billion euros in security research between 2007 and 2013.”

Birgit Niesing

“People believe that because digital technology has been so successful in Europe, the USA and the Far East, all we need to do is bring technology to developing countries and they will have a way to access the web and bridge the gap. However, I believe that we have to leverage the development of useful content for people.”

Stefane Boyera, W3C Mobile Web Initiative

“People sense that there is a shift of power taking place, from west to east, as Asia is in the ascendant, rising as an economy, and I think people also accept we are seeing a shift of power from state to people that is propelled by technology.”

Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister

“Grid concepts from big science will ultimately cross over to the wider community when general computing requirements are met by web services.”

Craig Lee, President of OGF

“We might be taking our understanding of the universe from 5 per cent to 30 per cent in a single jump. Now that’s every bit as profound as people realising that the Earth goes round the sun. It’s quite mind-boggling.”

James Gillies, Head of CERN Communications

“Networked science works well to inform policy on complex global issues like environmental change and migration. The true aim of research is not to generate knowledge, but to share, and to put into action those findings.”

Dr Konrad Osterwalder, Rector of United Nations University

“Today, Ireland ranks 12th among the 38 countries included in the European Innovation Scoreboard… Our ambition is, within a decade, to move up a class into the ‘leaders’ group.”

Patrick Cunningham, Chief Scientific Advisor to the Government, Ireland

“The demand for research and new knowledge is enormous at a time when the volume of existing knowledge and its growth rate have never been greater.”

Maria Khorsand, CEO of SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden and Executive Board Member of EARTO

“An increase in wind energy research funding would help the sector contribute to the Lisbon Agenda, increasing European knowledge, dynamism and boosting the economy.”

Christian Kjaer, Chief Executive, EWEA

“At IBM, we believe the principle of integration applies to the Innovation process – involving laboratory and consumer; academia and business. What used to be separate, is now irrevocably connected.”

Larry Hirst, Chairman of IBM for Europe, Middle East and Africa

“Europe possesses enough key assets to become a leader on technologies and services of the future Internet. It benefits from both a strong unified market for mobile telecommunications and a world-unique cultural and geographical legacy.”

Eric Besson, French Secretary for Digital Economy