A €7 billion package for research and innovation in the European Union (EU) is expected to generate employment opportunities.

This is the claim made by European Commissioner for research, innovation and science Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, who declared that a predicted 174,000 new jobs will be generated in the short-term.

She was unveiling the investment under the EU Seventh Framework Programme for Research and stated: "EU-wide competition for these funds will bring Europe's best researchers and innovators together to tackle the biggest issues of our time, such as energy, food security, climate change and our ageing population."

In addition, Ms Geoghegan-Quinn stated the funding package is likely to provide work for almost 450,000 people in the long-term, in addition to contributing nearly €80 billion to gross domestic product growth over the coming 15 years.

Recent EU employment figures from statistical agency Eurostat revealed that the unemployment rate across the 27 member states stood at 9.3 per cent in May this year, down from 9.7 per cent during the same month of 2010.

Posted by Alex Donnell