In the quality of Member of the K4I Forum of the European Parliament, Maria da Graça Carvalho participated in the debate Wake Up Europe: A Call for Action, hosted by Lambert van Nistelrooij, MEP, Chair of the K4I Forum of the European Parliament and organized by Knowledge4Innovation.
The event, which took place at the European Parliament, aimed to deliver a Wakeup Call to European policy-makers, highlighting the main problems for the future of innovation in Europe and drawing up proposals for immediate actions.
The event coincided with the publication of several European Commission reports, all of which confirm that Europe is struggling in many respects. This includes the sharp drop in living standards, high unemployment rates especially among the young generations, large disparities in innovation performance among the Member States and declining investments.
The proposals were presented by Friedhelm Schmider, President of Knowledge4Innovation, Director General, ECPA; Gernot Klotz, Executive Director, Research and Innovation, Cefic. The Interventions from the floor came from Karine Iffour, IEEE and Anna Voseckova, TC ASCR/CZELO. Responses were made by Maria da Graça Carvalho (see intervention here); Jerzy Buzek, MEP, Vice-Chair of the K4I Forum of the European Parliament, Former President of the European Parliament and Lambert van Nistelrooij, MEP.