Fixing the future: a manifesto for recovery through innovation

In an effort to ensure long-term success, The Young Foundation has published a ten-point manifesto for Europe's governments, businesses and NGOs

As Europe's economy slips into recession we believe that Europe needs to respond in
ways that don't just address immediate needs but also ensure that Europe can thrive
in the recovery. Too many of the actions being taken now are focused on putting
right the mistakes of the past rather than investing in future success. And too little is
being done to promote the entrepreneurship, innovation and infrastructures that
will be essential to Europe's future growth. We believe that Europe's governments,
businesses and NGOs now need to commit to a set of principles that can guide
recovery plans and policies, and put at their heart a clear commitment to investment
in the future. Specifically we argue that Europe should:

1. Shape recovery policies to address the long-term challenges that Europe
faces, in particular adaptation to climate change, ageing and chronic disease

2. Prioritise the sectors with the greatest prospects of future jobs growth,
including health and care, education, environmental services, tourism and
the creative industries

3. Promote pluralism and local creativity, shifting investment to many small
scale local and regional initiatives rather than putting all resources into grand
but risky national projects

4. Invest in innovation, with a significant share of investment directed to
creating new products and services, including innovation in the public, social,
educational, creative and tourism sectors

5. Back entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship, whether through tax incentives
and guarantees, or provision of space for microenterprises

6. Support new infrastructures, accelerating investment in the decisive new
infrastructures for the future, like universal high speed broadband and low
carbon energy grids

7. Guarantee security by protecting social spending and supporting temporary
job creation as the precondition for healthy risk‐taking

8. Reward investor responsibility by reshaping policies to support those
institutional and private investors who have long-term investments in sound
enterprises with high standards of governance and risk management

9. Mobilise public creativity by using the radical potential of web 2.0 and social
networks to develop public ideas for mitigating the impact of the recession

10. Learn fast with more systematic ways of evaluating and learning from Europe
and the world about what works

These are modest proposals. They aim to connect the present to the future. They
present a positive approach for Europe and an alternative to retreating into
protection. Above all we believe this shift of direction is vital if we are to channel
hope and sustain confidence during what are bound to be difficult times.

Geoff Mulgan and Diogo Vasconcelos, The Young Foundation, www.youngfoundation.org.uk

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