The Lisbon Agenda, a 10-year plan to turn Europe into the leading knowledge-based economy by 2010, has been a letdown for bureaucrats in Brussels and has created a distorted benchmarking exercise for European Union member states.

It is not that the targets set in Lisbon are not positive, but rather that today, within the context of a global economy, they are too ambitious – especially for certain countries like Malta.

Even so, that should not detract from the importance of the Lisbon Agenda in guiding member states to achieve what will ultimately be of benefit to them and to the EU in general.

Malta has not done very well in this benchmarking exercise. The country’s failure to achieve the Lisbon targets can be explained quite easily, simply because Malta’s performance has been dismal in a number of categories, especially where research and development is given importance.

It had been suggested in 2000, and reaffirmed in Barcelona in 2002, that each member state should aim for a target investment of three per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in R&D. At present – although even this figure is not 100 per cent correct – Malta invests around 0.27 per cent of its GDP in R&D. There is certainly room for improvement in this regard.

Over the years, the government and Malta Enterprise have tried to stimulate research and development in Malta through a number of initiatives such as Innovation Relay Centres and a number of EU research programmes. Unfortunately, for many small and medium-sized businesses, these programmes have proved more suitable for large SMEs than the majority of small businesses that have an idea, but neither the means nor the expert-ise to develop it.

Last Friday, Malta became the 38th member of the Eureka framework that mobilises public and private funding to support research and development. Since 1985, over e23 billion has been used to boost innovation in Europe and today there are currently 740 ongoing projects attracting a total investment of more than e5.4 billion. On average, public funding invested in Eureka projects is returned less than two years after project completion.

Speaking to The Malta Independent in Prague last Friday, Industry, Investment and IT minister Austin Gatt said that Malta’s participation in Eureka should considerably improve socio-economic benefits for Maltese companies and, in turn, help contribute to increased R&D spending, which is a critical investment for future European economic growth, jobs and improved competitiveness.

He said that membership of Eureka would take innovation to a higher level and, more importantly, allow small SMEs to develop their ideas without having to deal with excessive bureaucracy. Thanks to membership of this network, the risks and high costs of investment associated with R&D projects are shared between collaborating project participants so that resource management becomes more feasible.

This initiative will be successful if SMEs in Malta take up the challenge and are not afraid to form what are known as clusters, that is joining up with other partner companies across the EU, to develop a particular technology or a new product.

Malta is already participating in a Eureka

Medea + cluster that is involved in a ground-breaking automotive project, the A401 Car vision, with aims to develop the specifications for a microchip to help ensure driver vigilance and anti-collision measures, while meeting design-for-cost effectiveness for high volume car application. ST Malta are designing the sensor technology used in this project.

Now that Malta is a member, it will be able to launch its own initiatives and take part in projects that are much larger than they would otherwise be able to support. Local companies must now be encouraged to broaden their horizons. Eureka provides them with the necessary tools and the government is willing to invest in their ideas. Now SMEs have to rise to the challenge.

This is an initiative that can boost Malta’s R&D levels considerably. Taken seriously, it can be the vehicle that will boost our industry’s competitiveness, improve the levels of our exports and really turn Malta into the knowledge-based economy that the government wants it to be.