This live blog is tracking the latest developments in European research and innovation programmes, including the broader debate on the future of R&D policy and funding in the next multiannual budget due to start in 2028. Beyond that, we look at other EU policies with significant research and innovation components in climate, digital, agriculture and regional development. In addition, national governments often come up with new R&D policies, decide to fund new research avenues, and set up international cooperation deals. This blog aims to keep you informed on all of that and more.
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28DIGITAL and the Hellenic Centre for Defence Innovation (HCDI) have launched a strategic partnership to strengthen the position of Greece as an emerging innovation hub and boost dual-use technology development across Europe.
The partnership is set to support the growth of SMEs and start-ups through comprehensive acceleration services, mentorship programmes, and facilitated access to both national and international funding sources. It also plans to establish a National Dual-Use Technology Accelerator in Greece for technologies with both civilian and military applications.
More details here.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which has committed a record £1.6 billion in the artificial intelligence sector over the next four years, has launched its first AI strategy.
Areas of interest include explainable AI, edge computing, human-in-the-loop systems, agentic AI and sustainable AI systems.
More details here.
The European Commission has granted Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Seal of Excellence certificates to 9,847 applicants under the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 call, a quality label allowing them to seek alternative funding for their research projects.
The successful proposals had host organisations in 38 countries.
More details here.
The European Commission has opened a call for expression of interest for European senior-level actors in frontier artificial intelligence to take part in a future expert forum.
The forum aims to gather AI developers, investors, industrial actors and other experts to map existing efforts in frontier AI and identify issues and opportunities for Europe’s competitiveness, sovereignty and security.
The first meeting will take place online on April 23.
More details here.
The Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA), a collective of organisations committed to reforming the methods by which research is evaluated, has launched a community-owned resource library as part of efforts to support institutions in implementing reforms.
Now openly accessible to the research community, the collection contains policy documents providing practical pathways for reforming, and evidence-based review documents aimed to share analyses into why reforms are needed and how it can be handled.
More details here.
The European Innovation Council (EIC) has selected 61 innovative start-ups and SMES under the EIC Accelerator to receive a total of €467 million in funding.
The beneficiaries represent 17 EU and associated countries, led by Germany, Spain, France, and Sweden.
Most of them will be awarded a combination of grants and equity investment.
More details here.
A group of 17 research and higher education organisations called on the EU to increase the budget of the next Erasmus+ programme to at least €60 billion and set up indicative allocations across education and training.
Other demands include supporting learning mobility and institutional cooperation, building more explicit funding synergies with other EU programmes, ensuring that new scholarships in strategic priority areas bring added value without diverting resources from other parts of the programme, and providing a clear pathway for the UK and Switzerland to renew their association.
More details here.
The European Commission has launched a new partnership with European public funders for advancing pandemic preparedness research.
The new partnership will be co-financed by €120 million from Horizon Europe and member states’ public funders, with France’s ANRS agency for emerging infectious diseases coordinating the efforts.
The partnership's goals are aligning national research priorities, supporting joint research projects and integrating research ecosystems to better tackle pandemics.
Find out more here.
Italian and Spanish respondents have lobbied the European Commission particularly hard over the proposed European Research Area Act, designed to allow academics and ideas to flow more freely across the continent.
On 16 February the Commission announced it had closed the public consultation on the act, receiving 735 responses. 45% of respondents were from academic institutions. Respondents from Italy and Spain were the most numerous. Both countries have long lost academics to northern European countries in a persistent brain drain.
The Commission says it should release its proposal for the act in the third quarter of this year.
Science Europe, an association of public organisations that fund or perform research, has proposed a series of amendments to the European Commission’s proposal for the Horizon Europe programme for 2028-34.
Science Europe wants to increase the proposed Horizon Europe budget from €175 billion to €200 billion and “avoid links to the [European Competitiveness Fund] that may risk Horizon Europe’s overall autonomy.”
It also wants to ensure the involvement of the research and innovation community in the programme’s governance and enable fast-track association for previously associated countries such as the UK and Switzerland.
Other recommendations underline the importance of bottom-up research and aim to preserve the independence of the European Research Council and the researcher-driven nature of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.
Read the full list of proposed amendments here.
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