Footwear body among those calling for big EU investment in innovation
The European Footwear Confederation (CEC) is one of a large group of business bodies to have made a joint call for more investment in research and innovation to increase competitiveness in the European Union.
CEC and the other organisations voicing concern urged the EU to allocate “a substantially increased budget” for research and innovation in its financial framework for 2028 to 2034.
They warned: “Europe’s productivity growth has stalled, its innovation gap with the US and China is widening, and the continent risks a slow but irreversible decline in its economic standing.”
They called for investment in innovation-led productivity growth, describing this as “an economic imperative” and as “the only credible path” towards the green and digital transitions that the EU wants to achieve.
