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Brussels, 19 Oct 2004

Executive Summary:

The general guidelines and objectives provided in the European Commission document are largely shared by ETNO. The involvement of the main participants ¨C Industry, Manufacturers and Service Providers - is indeed essential.

European competitiveness is a key objective for the industry and therefore our sector must play a leading role in defining the agenda. Industry's involvement should be used to help steer the collaborative programmes.

A very important aspect that has no particular attention in the document is the actual proposal evaluation; evaluation teams should have a higher proportion of industrial sector experts.

Finally, an adequate reference to the international dimension of RTD is missing. ETNO members have research and development centres in the USA, Asia and South America which should be seen as a bridgehead opportunity to spread European innovative solutions. Adequate instruments of international cooperation should be developed.