In order to improve the European competitiveness, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) has decided to create a permanent forum on science needs of industry. The initiative was launched following the roundtable "Scientific Support to European Industrial Competitiveness", organised by the JRC on 15 February.

The Joint Research Centre will launch a permanent Forum to strengthen dialogue and cooperation on the science needs of industry in key sectors for European competitiveness. Also with this aim, the Council wants to facilitate SMEs participation in the innovation process. Following the roundtable "Scientific Support to European Industrial Competitiveness", organised by the JRC on 15 February, the JRC has decided to create the forum because, according to the participants, there are sectors which have the most potential to create jobs and economic growth are, for example, energy, transport and ICT (clean energy, electro-mobility, renewables, smart grid, cyber security) as well as health, food and nutrition (nanotechnology, GMO, chemicals, medical devices).

In addition, the roundtable conclusions also show that the European industry needs stronger collaboration between different disciplines and continuous dialogue with the public sector, as well as support in areas such as patents and infrastructure for clean transport, new energy grids and information and communication technologies.

Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU, has also published the figures for industrial orders in the EU and in euro area for December 2011. According to the Eurostat, in December 2011 compared with November 2011, the euro area industrial new orders index rose by 1.9%, after a fall of 1.1% in November. In the EU new orders increased by 1.3% in December 2011, after a decrease of 1.2% in November. Among the Member States, total manufacturing working on orders rose in nine countries among which were Denmark, Sweden and Italy and fell in thirteen, with the largest decreases registered in Hungary, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Portugal.