Leading MEP Malcolm Harbour, Chairman of the Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee, told the FERMA roundtable that making Europe more innovative will be the big European issue over the next 18 months, and that risk management had a role to play.

“Innovation is required to make Europe sustainable as a powerhouse of the global economy. We are pretty good, in many cases very good, at world leading research but we sometimes may not be so good at converting this into sustainable enterprises. We have to create the right sort of environment, and we are looking for financial instruments that will make it happen,” he said.

Harbour also stressed that there should be changes in public sector procurement to stimulate the development of new ideas, but admitted that politicians were notoriously risk averse. Risk management, he said, could help public bodies take more courageous decisions without having the full financial impact of adverse consequences seized on by their political opponents.

Opening the event, the President of FERMA Peter den Dekker remarked that people expected businesses to do more to develop the economy, but with less risk than in the past. “People accept less and less risk, but they also expect companies to play an increased role in the economy,” he said.

Malcolm Harbour Chairman of the Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee