As the President of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaitė, said during the international conference “Manufuture 2013” (7-8th of October 2013 in Vilnius), this expression “Designed and made in the EU” should become a symbol of supreme quality and innovation in EU
This international conference on manufacturing industry and science promoted Horizon 2020, the EU’s new framework programme for research and innovation, and how it will strengthen the EU manufacturing industry, sustainable development and competitiveness in the next programming period 2014-2020.
The Horizon 2020 programme aims at financing research, development and innovation activities. It is made of 3 sub-programmes: excellence science, industrial leadership and societal challenges. It should strengthen the EU’s position in science and strengthen industrial leadership in innovation in order to fill the gap between research and the market.
Therefore, the conference adopted a Declaration, confirming the European industry commitment to use research and innovation as a tool. Moreover, the importance of cooperation between Member states has been underlined. In order to improve the attractiveness and the competitiveness of the European industry, in front of the current competition, a partnership between private and public sectors must be implemented. It will provide a solid foundation for a future of sustainable and competitive growth in Europe, as Herbet bon Bose (director of industrial technologies – General Office for Research and innovation –European Commission) said.
The increased efficiency of European, regional and national measures helping the research and the technical development through national and regional synergy and specialization were particularly discussed during the conference. Lithuanian students participated to a technical creation competition. Many success stories of the engineering industry and science were exhibited.
This conference is expected to have a long term impact on the future of the EU: key mechanisms for EU2020 and the pursuit of smart, sustainable and inclusive regional growth were discussed.