1. Theoretical background

As stated in the Commission Communication “Europe 2020: The EU strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth”, Europe faces a moment of transformation, which requires a strategy to help us come out stronger from the crisis and turn the EU into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, production and social cohesion. Europe 2020 sets out a vision of Europe's social market economy for the 21^st century.

To this end, the Commission proposes different headline targets, including achieving the investment of 3% of EU´s GDP in R&D, focusing on the need for both public and private sectors invest in R&D.

This document proposes seven flagship initiatives to catalyze progress in each priority theme. The first one, “Union for Innovation”, focuses to improve framework conditions and access to finance for research and innovation so as to ensure that innovative ideas can be turned into products and services that create growth and jobs.

Among the various specific strategies proposed by this initiative, the Commission states that work to (European Commission, 2010):

-To complete the European Research Area, to develop a strategic research agenda focused on challenges such as energy security, transport, climate change and resource efficiency, health and ageing, environmentally-friendly production methods and land management, and to enhance joint programming with Member States and regions;

-To improve framework conditions for business to innovate (i.e. create the single EU Patent and a specialized Patent Court, modernize the framework of copyright and trademarks, improve access of SMEs to Intellectual Property Protection,…);

With this purpose, the Commission states that Member States will need:

-To reform national (and regional) R&D and innovation systems to foster excellence and smart specialization, reinforce cooperation between universities, research and business, implement joint programming and enhance cross-border co-operation in areas with EU value added and adjust national funding procedures accordingly, to ensure the diffusion of technology across the EU territory;

-To ensure a sufficient supply of science, math and engineering graduates and to focus school curricula on creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship;

With regard to the national level included the recently approved Law 14/2011, of June 1, Science, Technology and Innovation (BOE 06/02/2011). Some of the novelties introduced by this Act with respect to the above are the establishment of rights and duties of researchers and technical personnel; commitment to the universal dissemination of knowledge, the incorporation of professional ethics dimension, reflected in the creation of a Committee to apply the internationally accepted criteria and guidelines, or the concept of scientific and technological development.

And at the regional level is necessary to note the Galician Plan for Research, Innovation and Development 2011-2015, which focuses its efforts on promoting and enhancing the knowledge economy, based on research, technology transfer, technological development and innovation.

In this paper we contras the recent proposal of innovative policies with the views of a sample research directors and business managers in order to extract necessary improvement strategies in a period of crisis like the present.

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