I came across this consultation on innovation policy launched by the EU. It is interesting to look at what is web2 and what is not, and make some constructive criticisms.

Why it is web2:
– It aims to be cool: The title is “innovation unlimited”. The design is full of round edges and fancy bubbles. It has a high flying motto “reinvent Europe through innovation”.
– It calls for people contributions: “send us your proposal”.  It calls for “sharing ideas”.
– It aims to put innovation at the centre.
– It opens up a conversation before the final report is published (good)
– It has a Twitter account and you can share content on social networks

Why it is not web2:
– The web design is not nice, in the opening screen I only see the banner of EC and of the initiative, while the map is cut half-way.
– It is not clear what people are supposed to do. It calls for people ideas but it aims to discuss the ideas of the “panel”
– people’s ideas are not published but sent to the panel!!!
– it aims to build a new innovation plan. A new plan is not what we need, we need a new culture and a new way of doing things.
– it has a twitter account but doesnt have a hashtag to aggregate conversation by other people
– you can share its content on social networks but not aggregate content from social network

Let me be clear: I welcome the emphasis on innovation and the idea of opening up a dialogue. Still I think this does not go far enough: it embraces more the tools than the culture of web2.0. What do you think?