Multilingualism for jobs mobility, but not only

On November 17, the Council of the European Union issued conclusions on language competences to enhance mobility. In the document the Council not only addresses multilingualism for jobs mobility but also mentions the importance to foster better use of language competences as a mean of increasing the competitiveness of EU business, and especially that of small and medium-sized enterprises. In this context, the Council welcomes the work of the Business Platform for Multilingualism of which EMF is a member of the Steering Committee, and invites the European Commission to further pursue its support and stakeholder initiatives of this kind.

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Innovation Union Competitiveness Report 2011

The Innovation Union Competitiveness Report 2011 provides an in-depth statistical and economic analysis about the strengths and weaknesses of national research and innovation systems. The document also provides solid facts on which to base national policy choices.

The Key findings from this report point out that:

- Europe needs to accelerate investment in research and innovation.
- In times of economic crisis, accumulated investment in research and innovation has a counter-cyclical effect.
- Investments in innovation have to be "smarter".
- The development of highly-skilled people needs to be matched with the needs of business.
- Integration and internationalisation of research increases returns on investments.
- Weak framework conditions prevent knowledge being transformed into marketable products and services.
- Europe has strong potential in technological inventions tackling societal challenges.
- EU needs more innovative and fast-growing SMEs.

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