Jobs, Innovation and Growth
iCES Europe in the World 2009 Lecture
The 2009 iCES Europe in the World Lecture, organised in
partnership with the European Commission Representation in the UK,
was held on 24 November 2009 and entitled `Jobs, Innovation and
Growth’.
Introducing the Lecture, the Director of iCES, Professor Michael Scriven, remarked that it was a
particularly timely moment at which to reflect on things European,
the past few weeks having witnessed both the 20th anniversary of
the fall of the Berlin Wall and the final ratification of the
Lisbon Treaty.
The theme of the 2009 Lecture was very much a sequel to the 2008
lecture devoted to European responses to the financial and economic
crisis, and elicited very different reactions from the panel
of speakers: John
Monks, General Secretary of the European Trade Union
Confederation; John
Cridland, Deputy Director-General of the Confederation of
British Industry; Sarah
Lambert, Acting Head of the European Commission Representation
in the UK; and Professor
Sylvia Walby, UNESCO Chair in Gender Research and Professor of
Sociology at Lancaster University. John
Drew, Professor of European Business and Management was the
moderator, and the proceedings were concluded with a vote of thanks
to the panel by Professor Aldwyn
Cooper, CEO of Regent's College.
Social Europe
Trade Union perspectives were forcefully outlined by
John Monks who argued that `the current recession is proving the
virtues of Social Europe’.
Short term financial engineering, he alleged, had unfortunately
become the dominant skill of too many chief executives pressurised
by the need for rapid improvements in shareholder value.
The solution, he maintained, does not lie in the shareholder
value economy but rather in a German style stakeholder economy that
would reinforce long-term profits and partnerships. Read Here John's Monks
position paper
Low Carbon Economy and Labour Market Flexibility
In contrast,
John Cridland, although accepting that `financial engineering was
yesterday’s story’, disagreed that the path to growth was via
the European Social Model.
On the contrary, it was his view that the biggest obstacle to a
dynamic business model was excessive regulation.
Sketching out five pillars of an effective EU policy framework
for growth, he argued for a blend of elements which would above all
be built on a low-carbon future and increased labour market
flexibility.
The Knowledge Economy
Sylvia Walby approached the issue of growth from the perspective
of a knowledge economy based not only on high technology
manufacturing but also on the development of both manufacturing and
services. 
Reviewing the historically gendered nature of employment
practices, she made the case for equality and fairness in labour
markets because such an approach is beneficial in terms of
productivity.
From an EU perspective Professor Walby concluded that the
European Union has been important in driving forward the knowledge
economy and equal treatment in employment.
The European Project
Finally Sarah
Lambert maintained that the European project was at its best when
at its most ambitious, and cited the climate change agenda goals as
evidence of this.
She was optimistic following Jose Manuel Barroso’s most recent
pronouncements highlighting opportunity, responsibility and
solidarity at the heart of the future European project.
Arguing that the Lisbon agenda had improved employment in the
EU, she envisaged the development of a future European
transformational growth agenda that would have at its centre
improved education, the fight against poverty and a low-carbon
economy.
Socially Responsible Thinking
The methods of achieving growth, innovation and jobs are various
and there is certainly no consensus at the present time on the most
effective way forward in a world recovering from the setbacks of a
global financial and economic crisis.
What the 2009 iCES Europe in the World Lecture did demonstrate,
however, was a general recognition of the need to move beyond
unregulated financial engineering and the necessity to devise
creative employment initiatives framed by a low-carbon economy and
more socially responsible thinking.
24 November 2009
Europe in the World Lecture
Institute of Contemporary European Studies
Regent's College London
Page last updated 1/13/2010