STATE AID: PUBLIC SUBSIDIES NO "INNOVATION PANACEA" WARNS KROES.

Small businesses are often presented as the solution to Europe's economic ills and the antidote to inefficient national champions. One of the measures put forward by the Commission in its September Communication on State Aid for Innovation is the authorisation of state aid for SMEs involved in innovation activities. However, some industry representatives have criticised this emphasis on small businesses. "Let's get the research right no matter what the size of the company", Ian Rodgers from UNICE's State Aid Task Force told the colloquium.

Similarly, representatives fr