ABSTRACT
As we have seen in Chapter 1, the EU is confronted by a series of major challenges which threaten both the sustainability of economic growth and the social and political cohesion of its member states. In the context of an increasingly open global trading system, it is thus imperative that the European economy is able to sustain the competitiveness of its tradable sectors, as well as to deliver non-tradable services to its population with maximum effect and at minimum resource-cost. In an earlier era, it was thought that these objectives could be attained through the adoption of the most modern and complex technologies, and for this reason both the EU and individual member states invested significant resources into R&D and the adoption of advanced embodied technologies. However, the returns to this innovation effort have been low and it has become apparent that a new approach is required.
