Innovation Summit

During a speech at the "Innovation Summit" held in Berlin on Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for more private investment in research and development. She wants public and private research and development investments to increase from the current 2.5 percent to 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2010.

Merkel said she realized investment in research was a long-term venture and required suitable conditions.

"It's ambitious, but I think it should be our common goal, to reach the 3 percent," Merkel said.

The Innovation Summit was the seventh, and last, to be held under the banner of the initiative, Partners for Innovation. The initiative was founded in 2002 by Merkel's predecessor Gerhard Schröder with the aim of turning innovative ideas into successful products. More than 400 experts from industry, research institutions, and politics worked together in 15 work groups as part of the initiative.

All-weather helicopter

One concept developed by the initiative is all-weather autonomous helicopter. The helicopter, currently under development, has sensors that enables can take off and landings even in fog and snowstorms.

Partners for Innovation was also behind the establishment of a 260 million euros ($330 million) high-tech start-up fund to support fledging businesses.

According to the Center for European Economic Research based in Mannheim, the number of new technology companies founded in Germany has halved in the past decade.

Merkel praised the initiative as having positively changed the climate and acceptance for technological innovation in Germany, but she said more still needed to be done on both German and European levels.

In Germany, the partnership program will be continued by the Council for Innovation and Growth, a government advisory council founded by Merkel in May, Merkel said.

She added that Germany plans to use its six-month EU presidency, which starts on Jan. 1, to introduce a European innovation strategy.