ABSTRACT
The first seeds for what later became known as the EU innovation policy were planted in the mid-eighties. The ambition to create a single market for goods, people and services offered companies and universities an opportunity, but also posed a threat. The result was that they had to step out of their cocoon. To this end, they were enabled by a financial facility that Brussels set up during the same period for joint research by universities among themselves, or together with companies. More was happening in the early 2000s. Entrepreneurs, politicians and researchers were discovering Silicon Valley. The European Commission wanted to get a clearer view of the available innovation capacity, so in 2014, under the promotional name of ‘Horizon 2020,’ bigger investments and simpler rules were promised.
