Shifting paradigms in EU biotechnology policies

From technology-orientation towards justification: In 2002, the European Commission (EC) published its first overarching strategy for Life Sciences and Biotechnology. The focus then was clearly on new technologies and their promise. Meanwhile policy mainstream has changed and all technological efforts are superseded by the need for justifying the possible contribution to society’s ‘Grand Challenges’. In practice, even technologies that have been politically identified as ‘key technologies’ fall under this regimen, which in turn narrows horizons for possibilities outside this scope. The good news for cutting-edge science and technology, however, is that new and more precise instruments (e.g. the ERC) are easily countermanding the loss of focus on technology.

The loss of the knowledge-base: the term ‘knowledge-based bio-economy’ first appeared on the radar of technology policy in 2005. At that time, it was totally in line with the (Lisbon) goals of making Europe competitive through enhancing its knowledge-base. When the 2012 strategy ‘Innovation for sustainable growth: A Bio-economy for Europe’ was published, the term ‘knowledge-base’ had interestingly disappeared from the title (although it still appears in places on the website). While this move widens the base of stakeholders significantly by embracing entire traditional industries like agriculture and forestry, it still has to be shown whether Europe can maintain a focus on innovation. This trend can also be seen in the composition of the new Bio- economy Panel, which is aimed at providing the European Commission with feedback from the community.

The shift from supply- to demand-side of technology policy: A couple of recent studies concur on the necessity of keeping current austerity measures in place in most EU Member States, and have concluded that investing taxpayer money in technology-based areas might only solve the technological side of the problem. Bringing innovation to the market – an area where Europe has a notoriously bad track record – is a wholly different affair. The Commission’s Lead Market Initiative has sought to balance out issues by emphasising the importance of (low-cost) political measures, such as streamlining the regulatory framework, labeling and certificate schemes (both admittedly tasks worthy of Sisyphus) and enhancing the efficiency of standardisation. The technologypolicy community has recognised that the measures are bringing results, and they have acquired prominent positions in current high-level strategies like Europe 2020 and the Innovation Union. This will enable them to make a positive difference in the years to come.

European policies are about the larger and broader vision, but most of the impact they have still derives from the national implementation that takes place farther down the road. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is attributed to have said that the only constant in life is change – and that aphorism applies to policies as well!

Peter Schintlmeister

joined Austria’s Federal Ministry of Economics, Family and Youth in 2003 as an expert for life sciences and biotechnology. He has enjoyed chairmanships at a number of different entities, including the OECD Task Force on Industrial Biotechnology, the ERA-NET EuroTransBio and the European Commission’s Advisory Group on bio-based products for the Lead Market Initiative. Schintlmeister is a member of the European Bioeconomy Panel and the Commission’s expert group for bio-based products. He has spent the better part of 2013 in China, where he has been contributing to the establishment of Austria’s Office of Science and Technology in Beijing.