The role of innovation is pivotal in tackling the economic, social and environmental challenges facing Europe, according to the recent Second European Innovation Summit held at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium. But getting ideas to market is a road often hampered by administrative bottlenecks and red tape. The causality is European competiveness and research in the global economy.

The summit, opened by Vice-president of the European Parliament Silvanan Koch-Mehrin under the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, discussed the role of innovation in energy efficiency, urban and regional mobility, sustained food security and agriculture, healthy ageing, and sustainable production. The gap, however, between the research conducted in these fields and the implementation of their results in the single market is widening.

Organised by the European Parliament's Scientific Technology Options Assessment (STOA) panel and K4I, the summit brought together a large number of stakeholders and policy-makers from around Europe and the globe. Experts from various fields of science were able to meet and discuss their concerns with members of the European Parliament and several European Commissioners. This included Nobel Prize Winner Peter Grünberg as well as over 200 students who participated in one of the 10 round table discussions and numerous workshops.

The future of copyright in the single market was a major point of debate at the summit. Europe's copyright system has not seen much reform in 20 years. Research facilities, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and universities for instance, are forced to navigate individual Member State copyright and patent laws. These laws can differ from one to another. The summit stressed the need to simplify copyright management systems. Currently, such fragmented laws do not bode well for European SMEs who account for half of Europe's GDP but could shed many jobs.

On 6 October, the Commission officially launched the flagship 'Innovation Union' Initiative. It will seek to focus Europe's efforts addressing challenges like climate change, energy and food security, health and an ageing population. It will also seek to stimulate growth in the private sector and remove some of the more pressing administrative barriers that smother innovation.