Proposition Des Sujets Pour Les Panels

Boosting industrial policy, growth and competitiveness in Europe

PROGRAMME

Jacques Delors Building

Rue Belliard 99, 1040 Brussels

Room JDE51 (5th floor)

13 November 2013

2.30-5.30 p.m.

The objective of this extraordinary meeting of the Employers' Group is to launch a debate on the links between industrial policy, growth and global competitiveness and analyse them from a business perspective. The aim is to encourage exchanges of views, diagnoses and practices between national and European decision makers, business and experts. The tone of the discussion will be free and open, without jargon.

2.30 p.m. Welcoming address:

Jacek Krawczyk, President of the Employers' Group, EESC

2.45-3.45 p.m. Panel 1. Industrial policy and competitiveness: a genuine return to the EU agenda?

· How to get from short-term “fire-fighting” to long-term boost?

· What measures can be implemented to overcome the industrial and competitiveness divide in Europe?

· How serious is the situation throughout the EU? Is there a Europe-wide solution?

· Would an EU industrial policy encourage private investment?

· How did decision makers respond to the increasing calls for action on industrial policy from the private sector? Are there experiences that could be developed for further action?

Moderator: Nicolas Baygert – Professor IHECS, Columnist Le Vif/l'Express

· Maurice Braud – Member of Cabinet, French Minister of Economy and Finance

· Vidmantas Janulevičius – CEO, BOD group

· Reinhilde Veugelers – Professor, Leuven University and Senior fellow, Bruegel

· Claire Dhéret – Policy analyst, European Policy Centre (EPC)

· Vitor Neves– CEO - COLEP industries

Questions & Answers

3.45-4 p.m. Coffee break

4-5 p.m. Panel 2. Enhancing EU companies' global competitiveness through innovation: a way out of the industrial conundrum?

· Innovation: a topical concept wrongly regulated and badly financed in the EU?

· What type of innovation could make EU companies competitive on the international scene?

· How to boost innovation in SMEs?

· Are there initiatives by companies, large, small and medium-sized enterprises, that could be disseminated as good practice?

Moderator: Nicolas Baygert – Professor IHECS, Columnist Le Vif/l'Express

· Alain Berger - Vice-President, Alstom

· David Wilkinson – Director – JRC - European Commission

· Alexandre Affre – Industrial Affairs Director - BUSINESSEUROPE

· Fabian Zuleeg – Chief Executive, EPC

Questions & Answers

5 p.m. Concluding remarks

5.30-6.30 p.m. Buffet ATRIUM 5 (5th floor)