Suchergebnisse

This article provides an overview of innovation policies in the EU and Member States and examines how employee-driven innovation is being discussed and how the role of employees as drivers of innovation in Europe is being understood and supported by joint European innovation policies and measures. The conclusion is reached that the role of employees as drivers of innovation is restricted to highly skilled professionals and researchers working in the areas of technology and natural sciences. Skilled, semi-skilled or unskilled workers are not considered as innovators. Finally the role of the social partners in setting the agenda for skilled and unskilled employees as drivers of innovation, especially in small- and medium-sized enterprises, is presented. The article is based on analyses of publicly accessible EU documents on innovation policy.

The European Clinical Trials Directive requires an informed consent from the patient or a proxy in drug trials. Although informed consent is a valuable tool to protect patients' rights in clinical trials, this requirement largely impedes research in critical care settings, and if pursued in this context, it does not provide the patient with adequate protection. Instead of insisting on informed consent, we suggest that the focus should be shifted towards two other ethically relevant elements in human experimentation: risk assessment and selection of research subjects. When reviewing protocols in which a waiver of consent is deemed necessary, the Ethical Review Board should ensure that non-therapeutic risks are minimal, that the research is specifically designed to benefit critically ill patients, and that it cannot be conducted under circumstances where an informed consent can be obtained. If the European Directive is changed accordingly, this permits clinical trials in critical care settings, while adequate protection from risky non-therapeutic procedures is ensured and exploitation of the patient as an easily accessible research subject is prevented.