Competitiveness Council, 26-27/05/2016, 26-27 May 2016

Main results

Internal Market - Industry - Space policy

Digital single market

The Council assessed progress on the digital single market strategy one year on from the launch of the strategy. In this context, the Council:

Today we established important milestones for creating a truly digital single market in the EU to facilitate innovation and growth. I strongly encourage all those involved to act quickly and take full advantage of the digital revolution. Henk Kamp, Minister for Economic Affairs of the Netherlands

• agreed on the main principles to ensure portability of online content services in the internal market
• adopted conclusions on digital single market technologies and the modernisation of public services
• discussed the impact of digitalisation on productivity of the services sector under the competitiveness check-up
• discussed ways of improving the uptake of space data from European space programmes to create growth and jobs

To ensure that these and future actions benefit from an innovation-friendly environment, the Council adopted conclusions on better regulation.

After the meeting, the president of the Council and minister for economic affairs of the Netherlands Henk Kamp stressed the following: "Today we established important milestones for creating a truly digital single market in the EU to facilitate innovation and growth. I have organised a "Council Digital Day" because I think that the digital landscape before us offers the best opportunities to help people and business to connect and interact by eliminating physical distance and barriers and opening up new markets and new job opportunities. I strongly encourage all those involved to act quickly and take full advantage of the digital revolution".

Research and Innovation

Following a debate on open science, the Council adopted conclusions on the transition towards an open science system.

Open Science is a topic which is very dear to our hearts. During the Netherlands presidency, we have aimed at bringing Europe to the forefront of global change and at leading the transition to a new way of doing research and science based on openness, big data and cloud computing. Sander Dekker, State Secretary of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands

It also adopted conclusions on the lessons learnt from the 7th research framework programme and the future outlook and on the creation of a friendly regulatory environment for research and innovation.

Chairing the Council, Sander Dekker, State Secretary of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands, made the following statement: "Open Science is a topic which is very dear to our hearts. During the Netherlands presidency, we have aimed at bringing Europe to the forefront of global change and at leading the transition to a new way of doing research and science based on openness, big data and cloud computing. Open Science breaks down the barriers around universities and ensures that society benefits as much as possible from all scientific insights. In that way we maximize the input of researchers, universities and knowledge institutions".

Today, building on work done during recent months, particularly at the April conference when we approved the "Amsterdam Call for Action on Open Science", I can say that we have made a major step forward".

Live streaming, videos and photos

• Live streaming of public sessions and press events
• Photos and videos from the meeting, Competitiveness Council, 26-27 May 2016