6.1. Specific objective

The specific objective is to foster a greater understanding of Europe, provide solutions and support inclusive, innovative and reflective European societies in a context of unprecedented transformations and growing global interdependencies. Europe is confronted with major socio-economic challenges which significantly affect its common future. These include growing economic and cultural interdependencies, ageing and demographic change, social exclusion and poverty, integration and disintegration, inequalities and migration flows, a growing digital divide, fostering a culture of innovation and creativity in society and enterprises, and a decreasing sense of trust in democratic institutions and between citizens within and across borders. These challenges are enormous and they call for a common European approach, based upon shared scientific knowledge that social sciences and humanities, among others, can provide. Significant inequalities persist in the Union both across countries and within them. In 2011 the Human Development Index, an aggregate measure of progress in health, education and income, scores the Member States between 0,771 and 0,910, thus reflecting considerable divergences between countries. Significant gender inequalities also persist: for instance, the gender pay gap in the Union remains at an average of 17,8 % in favour of men COM(2010)0491. . In 2011, one in every six Union citizens (around 80 million people) was at risk of poverty. Over the past two decades the poverty of young adults and families with children has risen. The youth unemployment rate is above 20 %. 150 million Europeans (some 25 %) have never used the internet and may never get sufficient digital literacy. Political apathy and polarisation in elections has also risen, reflecting citizens' faltering trust in current political systems. These figures suggest that some social groups and communities are persistently left out of social and economic development and/or democratic politics. These inequalities do not only stifle societal development but hamper the economies in the Union and reduce the research and innovation capacities within and across countries. A central challenge in addressing these inequalities will be the fostering of settings in which European, national and ethnic identities can coexist and be mutually enriching. Moreover, the number of Europeans aged over 65 is expected to rise significantly by 42 % from 87 million in 2010 to 124 million in 2030. This presents a major challenge for the economy, society and the sustainability of public finances. Europe's productivity and economic growth rates have been relatively decreasing for four decades. Furthermore, its share of the global knowledge production and its innovation performance lead compared to key emerging economies such as Brazil and China are declining fast. Although Europe has a strong research base, it needs to make this base a powerful asset for innovative goods and services. It is well-known that Europe needs to invest more in science and innovation and that it will also have to coordinate these investments better than in the past. Since the financial crisis many economic and social inequalities in Europe have been aggravated even further, and the return of pre-crisis rates of economic growth seems a long way off for most of the Union. The current crisis also suggests that it is challenging to find solutions to crises that reflect the heterogeneity of Member States and their interests. These challenges must be tackled together and in innovative and multi-disciplinary ways because they interact in complex and often unexpected ways. Innovation may lead to weakening inclusiveness, as can be seen, for instance, in the phenomena of digital divide or labour market segmentation. Social innovation and social trust are sometimes difficult to reconcile in policies, for instance in socially depressed areas in large cities in Europe. Besides, the conjunction of innovation and citizens' evolving demands also lead policymakers and economic and social actors to find new answers that ignore established boundaries between sectors, activities, goods or services. Phenomena such as the growth of Internet, of the financial systems, of the ageing economy and of the ecological society abundantly show how it is necessary to think and respond to these issues across their dimensions of inclusiveness and innovation at the same time. The in-built complexity of these challenges and the evolutions of demands thus make it essential to develop innovative research and new smart technologies, processes and methods, social innovation mechanisms, coordinated actions and policies that will anticipate or influence major evolutions for Europe. It calls for a renewed understanding of determinants of innovation. In addition, it calls for understanding the underlying trends and impacts within these challenges and rediscovering or reinventing successful forms of solidarity, behaviour, coordination and creativity that make Europe distinctive in terms of inclusive, innovative and reflective societies compared to other regions of the world. It also requires a more strategic approach to cooperation with third countries, based on a deeper understanding of the Union's past and its current and future role as a global player.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-03 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.