"Europe must regain its leading position in science to ensure economic progression", said President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy at a conference entitled "It's Our Turn - Challenges of the European Union in 2011" in the Ceremonial Hall of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The President also announced that the first meeting of the European Council in 2011 is going to be dedicated to the topics of innovation and energy strategy.

"One of the most pressing challenges of the European Union is to create an environment that keeps our young and talented scientists on the continent", President Van Rompuy said, outlining the most important tasks the European Union and the upcoming Hungarian Presidency must undertake. As the President pointed out: scientific achievements have been one of the secrets for Europe's success since the renaissance.

The aim of the Innovation Summit scheduled for February 4, 2011 is to effectively reach three very important target groups concerned with scientific development: citizens, researchers, and industrialists. "We must make our citizens aware that the achievements of science and innovation have a profound effect on their lives, and help them lead an active, productive, and healthy life", Herman Van Rompuy said. Regarding the support of the scientific community the President emphasised the importance of creating an European Research Area. "There is a growing consensus on the necessity of ERA," he said, "but there are still some issues to be solved such as removing the obstacles from the way of researcher mobility." Van Rompuy pointed out: industrialists must be supported in their efforts of turning research results into commercial products to be sold on the market.  

The President of the European Council considers energy security as a most pressing issue in which every member state holds responsibilities. "More resources must be allocated to discovering new energy sources and increasing the effectiveness of the ones currently available", Van Rompuy said, adding: the member states of the EU must co-operate with Russia over this issue, and Hungary will play an important role in this process in the near future. 

The conference was opened by József Pálinkás, President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. "We still have a lot to do to make our Union stronger, safer, more competitive to the outside world, and more co-operative inside, and a better place to live for us all", the President of HAS said, pointing out: Europe was made the centre of the world by its science.  If we want to be strong global players we have to rely on our intellectual heritage and potential. Innovation is all, as we say nowadays. But there is no Innovation Union without strong frontier research, he said, and Europe has to regain leadership in science. "I hope during our turn among the many things we have to do we can put a strong emphasis on this, too", the President of HAS said.