14 DAY TRIAL // John Vassallo, Microsoft associate general counsel, and the lead of the company’s EU Corporate Affairs and Regulatory team, emphasized the need for the European Union to invest in innovation as one of the countermeasures for the global financial crisis. During the past week's EU Growth and Innovation Day, Vassallo opined that the EU needed to follow the lead of the U.S. with its stimulus plan, which was also focused on long-term measures, and not just immediate action.
“Europe needs to encourage, not hamper, innovation. And money counts. The U.S. stimulus plan will likely include funding for such innovative activities as e-health systems, educational networks and energy research. EU leaders also have a stimulus plan. If a sizable portion of that money and effort goes toward long-term, sustainable innovation, it could endow Europe with a bright future,” he stated.
The EU Growth and Innovation Day proved fertile soil for Microsoft to emphasize optimism related to longer-term global economic prospects. Vassallo pointed to innovation as an investment in the future, capable of helping companies in any industry fend off the economic downturn. The end goal would be not only to increase productivity through new technologies, but also build new businesses with new opportunities for profit as well as more jobs.
“Investing in innovation is fundamentally about investing in people. It is people who turn new ideas into products and services that solve old problems and meet new needs. In today’s knowledge-driven world, innovation depends on people who are technically sophisticated, have strong critical thinking skills, and possess solid knowledge of math and science,” Vassallo added.
Microsoft itself, despite a package of cost-saving measures already being implemented, including cutting no less than 5,000 jobs in the next 18 months, plans to spend no less than $9 billion on Research and Development by the end of 2009.