Your Majesty the King of Spain,
Mister President of the Italian Republic,
Madam Commissioner,
Members of the Government,
Presidents of the COTEC Foundations of Spain and Italy and President of COTEC Portugal,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Please allow me to commence by saluting the choice of the city of Porto and of this emblematic Casa da Música to welcome the 6th Cotec Europe Meeting covering innovation and entrepreneurial creativity.

Porto, a city renowned for it’s universally sized architectural and historic heritage, is also a city that is singled out for the entrepreneurial spirit of its peoples and, yet more, for the international projection of its creators – architects, designers, researchers, artists.

It is with a feeling of deep friendship that I express my thanks for the presence, which greatly honours us, of His Majesty D. Juan Carlos and of His Excellency the President of the Republic of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano.

I would also like to address my special thanks to Madam Commissioner MáireGeoghegan-Quinn, who accepted the invitation to join this Meeting and who has given us a very opportune view of the recent proposals of the European Commission on the issue of Research and Innovation.

In spite of all the progresses made, the so called “paradox of innovation” still persists in Europe, already identified in 1995 in the “Green Paper on Innovation”. This is interpreted, as was then pointed out by the European Commission, as the lesser European capability in transforming the results of technological research and knowledge in innovation and competitive advantages.

The more than ever approach of the research activity to the market is the path to mitigate this weakness..

A fairly long while ago – precisely in 1989 – I stated the idea that many of the products and services that could become assertive in the market, within a period of four or five years, did not exist at the time and would have to be “invented”. The trend for the technological acceleration of the markets was already in the offing, and this has become manifest in the shortening of the innovatory cycles of products and services, nowadays measured in months and, in some cases, just weeks.

This “inventive” capability, this capability to anticipate the outlines of the future, is now the great differentiating mark between the companies.

Nowadays, the idea that technological innovation and knowledge are key factors in entrepreneurial competitiveness is certainly not a novelty.

However, the implications of the effects of the acceleration of technology and of the worldwide economic integration are still far from becoming internalized in the behaviour of many companies and in their leaders’ discourse. Much can still be done, equally, in the design of public policies in this issue.

To assert Europe and its companies in the global competitive picture demands that immediate attention be given to two components of structural change: firstly, the new nature of the systems in entrepreneurial innovation; secondly, the so called “demography” of the small and medium sized units, that is, their cycle of birth, growth and regeneration.

Innovation is, more than ever, a result of open systems, whose dynamics occur in networks of knowledge and competences on a planetary scale, external, in many cases, to the companies themselves.

For that reason also, and more than ever, the new innovatory models are associated to a presence in the global market.

To enter or not the global scale is, without any doubt, a quandary that many of our companies are facing.

The central issue that is placed before us is the following: are companies able to have their business growing without “Thinking and Acting Globally”, in terms not just of their customers, but also of their suppliers, partners, competitors and bankers?

The fact is that it is in the so called “global innovation market” that vanguard technologies are asserted, which end up by being adopted by their final users.

On the other hand, it is the presence in the global market that allows companies to reach a relevant size in the export business. To be in the global market is to thwart the always risky concentration on a limited number of business destinations.

The planetary market opens a space to faster and less volatile growth and provides important gains in productivity. More than adding volume, it is a question of adding value.

It happens, however, that impediments to business in the global area have a greater impact on the SMEs than in large sized companies. Small and medium sized companies have limited resources and a reduced capacity to absorb risks, especially when operating in highly competitive markets. And, as we are well aware, in our economies most of the companies are SMEs.

The new framework of community initiatives in research and innovation that is now announced may bring to our SMEs a more propitious access area to the global market. Experience gained through participation in these European programmes could impel companies to tread new paths.

Cotec Europe must, for this reason, continue encouraging and accompanying the companies and, especially, their efforts in direct participation in transnational programmes of research and development.

I recall that the President of the European Commission indicated he would be open to work together with the Cotec organizations. The presence, in this Meeting, of the Commissioner responsible for Research, Innovation and Science is a further signal of that availability.

Small and medium sized units, often exponent of creative flexibility and fluidity, are the forces on which rests the regeneration of our productive sectors and the creation of new industries.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The founding idea of Cotec was born twenty years ago. From the meritorious initiative of a group of Spanish entrepreneur, supported by His Majesty King D. Juan Carlos. An idea that asserts technology and knowledge as the changing forces of the economy and of societies. An idea that has inspired an agenda of change in our economies and in our entrepreneurs and managers.

The concept of Cotec Europe, since its first meeting in Rome, in 2005, is based upon the idea of compatibility, an idea of a common view of Innovation in the European area.

Europe must not nor can it dispense with the contribution of the Southern countries within the framework of the so called “European Area of Science and Innovation”. As far as we are concerned, the agreement in the positions taken will strengthen and assert our common interests in this issue.

Our countries are going through very demanding times. We are facing economic and social challenges that require deep and urgent reform, to be carried out in a particularly difficult context.

To achieve a stronger and healthier economic growth and, at the same time, create qualified employment, are our priority targets. These are objectives that demand new technological solutions and driving will, but also the strengthening of a culture of responsibility.

The participation of entrepreneurs and the relevance of the topics discussed here are proof that, in spite of the crises that stubbornly persist, the strength of entrepreneurial innovation is well alive.

Cotec Europe has asserted itself as an area of cooperation and also as a forum for change and achievement of the future. Of the future we wish for, whilst assuming our common responsibilities in its construction.

I am certain that the 6th Meeting shall provide a useful and inspiring contribution to confront the challenges that our three countries are facing. We are confident and determined that we will achieve this.

My best thanks to the organizers and to all the participants.