The books aims at providing a critical view of the innovation policy in Europe and a review of the legal instruments used by the European institutions to achieve the goals of increasing the overall competitiveness of the system by fostering innovation-based economic activities. An overview of the current institutional framework of Europe in light of the announced policy plan of Europe2020 is offered.
Furthermore, the consistency of the innovation policy with the goal of competitiveness is checked with respect to four main topics, such as the community patent, the transfer of technology (particularly as far as climate-related technologies are concerned), standardization, and the digital agenda.
In a final chapter some policy recommendations are provided that point to a redress of an otherwise rather confused picture of innovation in Europe.
