New mandate, new agenda: Will the EU live up to its promises on R&I?

Following her re-election as European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen has pledged to put “research and innovation, science and technology, at the centre of our economy” during her next five-year mandate. The rationale for doing so has multiple drivers: a growing innovation gap between Europe, the US and China; increasingly ambitious decarbonisation goals; defence and security threats from war in Ukraine and the Middle East, spurring geopolitical interest in further EU enlargement; and the need for productivity gains to support sustainable growth and competitiveness, among others. 

The urgency to act has also been highlighted by the flagship reports from Enrico Letta and Mario Draghi, and more recently in the recommendations of the independent expert group chaired by Manuel Heitor. Unsurprisingly, each call for massive increases in R&I financing to achieve long-term policy goals – yet do so against a backdrop of national economic constraints and political schisms across the continent. By extension, early indicators from within the Commission suggest that a radical restructuring of budget lines is being considered for the years ahead, in order to channel science and technology investments through a macro-level competitiveness instrument.  

So as the EU institutions begin their deliberations on both the next multi-year budget (2028-2034) and a successor to Horizon Europe (FP10), how will Ms. von der Leyen’s rhetoric play out in reality? This question lies at the heart of the 2025 Science|Business Annual Network Conference. Among the key issues to be explored in February: Can member-states be persuaded to put more money into the R&I pot, or is a fully-fledged capital markets union the only realistic way to achieve the desired scale of investment? Will the prospective competitiveness fund transform R&I funding and governance for better or for worse? Should the Commission opt for revolution or evolution when it comes to FP10, not least in the context of the Widening agenda and industry-led partnerships? How would a “whole-of-government” approach work in practice in the next framework programme? Does Europe need its own ARPA-style mechanism to foster breakthrough innovation? And how will geopolitics affect future models of international cooperation and the balance between research security, integrity and openness?

On February 5-6, Science|Business will convene leading figures from the worlds of policy, industry and research, along with the members of its international Network, to address these questions and more. Join us in Brussels and online for the first series of public high-level debates on the future of R&I as the EU’s new mandate begins in earnest.