AN INNOVATIVE METHOD It is widely recognised today that deep shifts in its economic and societal context and new needs require radical innovation of the European Union’s policies. These cannot be brought about if not also its operational system is overhauled to better combine democratic legitimacy and technocratic efficacy. An independent, tripartite High Level Group (HLG) is an innovative method, between governments, business and academia, to inject innovative policy ideas into the EU system. The first HLG was set up following an initiative of Presidency the Competitiveness Council in 2011, with the purpose to ‘think outside-the-box’ on how to improve innovation policy making. The method proved useful and was applied also in other policy areas. OBJECTIVES An independent, tripartite HLG is a method for policy initiation or innovative reform, avoiding path dependency, designed to: - Align different perspectives and interests about a particular policy sector or issue. - Improve mutual trust and consensus between leading stakeholders. - Inject ‘outside-the-box’, creative policy ideas into the European Union system. - Develop operational recommendations outside its legalistic and procedural constraints. - Facilitate political agreement in the formal decision making procedure. HOW DOES IT WORK? A HLG group is a temporary, public-private, think tank. Each brainstorming group is independent and determines its own agenda. It is thus fundamentally different from the formal high level groups sometimes set up by the Commission to advice within a strict mandate. A HLG group always has a tripartite composition: a limited number of participants from Member governments, EU Commission and/or Council, corporations, academia and research. The chair and the secretariat ensure a balance between them. All participants operate in their own name, without mandate, to stimulate trust, creativity and serendipity of discussions.