Developing an Innovation-Friendly Legislative Culture – the Innovation Principle at Work

2026-07-22

The international high-level conference will be organised during the Finnish Presidency of the European Union Council in Helsinki in December 2019.The topic of the event is “Developing an Innovation-Friendly Legislative Culture – the Innovation Principle”. Today the pace of innovation is faster than ever. The process of preparing legislation does not necessarily match the rate of technological and digital change. The Innovation Principle seeks to ensure that regulation is designed in a way that creates the best possible ecosystem for the flourishing of innovation. The Innovation Principle thus contributes to creating a more innovation-friendly regulatory framework for the EU and, when used for national legislation, can signal the willingness of EU Member States to host and nurture innovators as well as to overcome situations of market failure. The conference aims to demonstrate that regulation can be used effectively and responsibly as a tool to pave the way for market-driven activities and innovations with the aim of providing high quality services to citizens according to objectives set for policies. The conference encourages to take a perspective that since all developments cannot be predicted, flexibility and new operating models are needed (e.g. new kind of PPPs including involvement of end users). The conference has four specific objectives: • To raise awareness and build shared understanding of the possibilities and challenges of regulation in creating markets for innovations and innovative business ecosystems in the European Union • To share experiences of forerunners and experiments in different fields both at the EU level and in the Member States • To identify key areas where regulation could be a major driver for innovation • To identify key policy questions to facilitate the use of Innovation Principle.

Finland

2026-02-15