The clean tech challenge: How to fuse R&I, energy and decarbonisation strategies?

Since the launch of the European Green Deal in 2019, the energy transition has been one of Europe’s defining political and economic projects. Backed by major public funding, including Horizon Europe’s climate spending target, it placed research and innovation at the centre of the EU’s pathway towards climate neutrality and clean technologies.

Yet, growing scrutiny over regulatory complexity, uneven implementation and the challenge of turning ambition into practical industrial transformation have significantly complicated Europe’s decarbonisation efforts. In parallel, geopolitical turbulence, volatile energy prices, global competition and concerns over technological sovereignty have pushed energy supply and security to the top of the EU’s political agenda.

This shift is now reflected in a new policy framing. The Clean Industrial Deal, and the Industrial Accelerator Act, proposed in March 2026, both point towards a stronger focus on turning decarbonisation into a driver of industrial renewal. The emphasis is no longer only on setting climate targets, but on building the technologies, infrastructure, markets and value chains needed to deliver them. As the EU seeks to build lead markets for low-carbon products, strengthen demand for European-made clean technologies and reduce strategic dependencies, choices will need to be made about how public funding, private capital, state aid, international partnerships and industrial collaboration can work together. In this context, energy and decarbonisation are no longer separate from Europe’s competitiveness agenda, but central to its future industrial, technological and research resilience.

Against this backdrop, several key questions arise, starting with the practical conditions needed to turn Europe’s decarbonisation goals into industrial and technological delivery. Among the related themes to be considered: how can R&I partnerships and strategic cooperation support clean energy transitions in Europe and beyond? What role should major research infrastructures, from AI factories to fusion facilities, play in advancing the next generation of energy technologies? How can Europe align the growth of digital infrastructure with energy security and climate objectives? And how can research and innovation help move industrial decarbonisation technologies from pilots and demonstrations to deployment at scale?

On 19 November 2026, Science|Business will convene members of its international Network, EU institutions, national governments and other key stakeholders for a set of cross-cutting, high-level debates on how Europe can better fuse research and innovation with industrial strategies for energy and decarbonisation.