Innovation Union
Innovation Union
Commissioner delivers keynote address at the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) 2014
"I am not a scientist. But as a politician I am positively evangelical about the power of science to improve and enrich our lives and to sustain our economy"
EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) Keynote Speech
Copenhagen, 24 June 2014
Minister Nielsen, ladies and gentlemen,
I am delighted to be here. It is nearly two years since I addressed the ESOF Conference in Dublin.
That speech came at precisely the half-way point of my five-year mandate as European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science.
Speaking then to the ESOF plenary gave me a chance to articulate my very firm belief in science as the basis for better lives and a better economy.
I also talked about the European Commission's plans to reform how we finance research and innovation and the need to invest more in the best science even with severe pressure on the EU budget.
And I spoke about putting research at the heart of EU policy-making.
Two years on, I believe that we have delivered on that agenda, with the biggest achievement being Horizon 2020, which will invest nearly 80 billion Euro in research and innovation between now and 2020.
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