on Policy priorities in the fight against illegal immigration of third-country nationals

Accompanying document to the

Addressing the challenges of deforestation and forest degradation to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss

Accompanying document to the

The Commission Staff Working Document on ‘Design as a driver of user-centred innovation’ analyses the contribution of design to innovation and competitiveness. The results are compelling: companies that invest in design tend to be more innovative, more profitable and grow faster than those who do not. At a macro-economic level, there is a strong positive correlation between the use of design and national competitiveness. Although often associated with aesthetics and the ‘looks ’ of products only, the application of design is in reality much broader. User needs, aspirations and abilities are the starting point and focus of design activities. With a potential to integrate for example environmental, safety and accessibility considerations — in addition to economic — into products, services and systems, design is an area which deserves public attention. Design as a driver and enabler of innovation complements more traditional innovation activities such as research. In the current economic climate, where resources for innovation are scarce, design and other non-technological innovation drivers, such as organisational development, employee-involvement and branding, become particularly relevant. They often are less capital intensive and have shorter pay-back periods than for example technological

Demand-side innovation policy is an emerging and promising policy area in Europe and beyond. The Lead Market Initiative is the first comprehensive effort at EU level for a coordinated demand-side innovation policy approach. It uses a number of policy instruments to facilitate the uptake of new innovative products and services in the market. This mid-term progress report presents an analysis of results attained in the implementation and governance of these sizeable demand-side innovation policy packages for 6 lead markets, namely biobased products, eHealth, sustainable construction, protective textiles, recycling, and renewable energy. The choice of demand-side innovation instruments (regulation, public procurement, standardisation and complementary activities) for the ‘policy mix ’ of each action plan seems to be appropriate. The full assessment per market area is given in chapter 2. Some highlights are in: Public procurement A key action in the LMI was promoting networking and cooperation among public procurers. Calls 1 under the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) funded networks of public procurers in the areas of sustainable construction, protective textiles and eHealth, with projects due to start late 2009. In recycling, the CIP call on “Championing Ecoinnovation” 2 will support activities in public procurement, particularly Green public procurement.

Barthel (consultant). Alexandra Ortega (RE1/EN1) assisted in the production of the document. CONTENTS

EnCase is an all-inclusive forensic tool that provides acquisition utilities, analysis tools, and reporting capabilities in one program. Each of these tools provide extensive capabilities into their digital forensics purpose. EnCase is very user friendly and allows for a quick analysis of evidence

Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing an infrastructure for spatial information in the Community (INSPIRE)

Towards a comprehensive climate change agreement in Copenhagen- Extensive background information and analysis