HORIZON BLOG: European R&D policy newsbytes

Today, MEP Christian Ehler has been re-elected chair of the European Parliament's Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA), alongside vice-chairs Lina Gálvez Muñoz and Ivars Ijabs.

The STOA Panel, composed of 27 MEPs, plays a critical role in providing scientific advice and foresight to inform EU policy-making.

Once reelected, Ehler emphasised the importance of a depoliticised platform for discussing key issues like academic freedom.

“The Panel for the Future of Science and Technology is a key instrument for the European Parliament to analyse, predict, anticipate and plan issues related to the future of science and technology,” said EP Vice-President responsible for STOA Victor Negrescu.

Last year, the panel was embroiled in a controversy over a review it commissioned to analyse the impact of an upcoming legislation on the pharmaceutical industry. At the time, MEPs accused the panel’s administration of overstepping its powers by withdrawing the independent report.

The announcement of Ehler’s re-election is here.

On Wednesday, the European Parliament voted on a €201 billion EU budget for 2025 which allocates additional funding to key programmes like Horizon Europe and Erasmus+.

The 2025 budget, as approved by Parliament, includes a €242 million increase to Horizon Europe, with €50 million going to the health cluster.

Furthermore, MEPs wants to see an extra €70 million for Erasmus to expand access to the programme.

“Today’s vote is a strong signal of support for a citizen-centred EU budget focused on investments in economic development and improving people’s lives.," said general rapporteur for the EU budget 2025 Victor Negrescu.

Overall, MEPs reinstated €1.52 billion in funding cuts previously proposed by the Council.

The Parliament’s vote initiates three weeks of talks with the Council to finalise a deal on the EU budget 2025 by the year's end.

More details here.

Last week, the European Commission’s Expert Group on the interim evaluation of Horizon Europe released the "Align, Act, Accelerate" report, outlining recommendations for the next research and innovation framework programme, FP10, set to begin in 2028.

While the European University Association (EUA) welcomed most of the report's recommendations, it urged careful consideration of the proposal to create two new bodies, an Industrial Competitiveness and Technology Council and a European Societal Challenges Council, to steer collaborative research.

The EUA emphasised that although reinforcing European industrial competitiveness and addressing societal challenges are important, these issues cannot be effectively tackled in isolation.

“(...) Dividing the current Pillar 2 into two separate councils – an Industrial Competitiveness and Technology Council and a Societal Challenges Council – could create silos. This would weaken the programme’s collaborative spirit,” EUA warns.

Read the EUA reaction to the report here.

As the Heitor report calls for a simplification of the grant application system that would also reduce the reliance of applicants on external consultants, the European Association of Innovation Consultants (EAIC) says consultancy is not the issue.

The European Commission’s Expert Group tasked with the interim evaluation of Horizon Europe emphasised the need to simplify the application process, partly to decrease applicants' use of consultancy services.

“(…) The use of external consultants involves substantial costs for applicants, with some applicants reporting paying up to 12% of the total grant in ‘success fees’ to consultants,” says the Heitor report.

In response, the EAIC has strongly objected, arguing that applicants do not rely on consultants solely because of the application process's complexity, but external consultancy provide value “in many other ways."

The EAIC further explained that, rather than increasing transaction costs, consultants often help reduce them. As a final point, the group reminded that the Commission itself acknowledged the value of consultants in its Ex post evaluation of Horizon 2020 .

Read the EAIC reaction to the report here.

Today, the European Commission launched the Trusted Investors Network, the first network of venture capitalists to co-invest in Europe's deep-tech companies alongside the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund.

The network, consisting of 71 investors representing over €90 billion in assets, aims to boost capital for deep-tech innovation. The network will further strengthen co-investments, enabling European companies in critical technology sectors to scale and compete globally.

“By joining forces with venture capital, we are responding to the urgent challenges laid out in the Draghi report that call for bold action to ensure Europe's competitiveness in critical technologies,” said research commissioner Iliana Ivanova.

Read the announcement here.

The Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) and European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc) issued a statement reacting to the Horizon Europe interim evaluation report by the expert group led by Manuel Heitor.

The joint statement puts forward a list of five targets for the next EU framework programme for research and innovation:

1. Increased Budget: aim for a significant increase in the MSCA budget to bolster the European R&I landscape.
2. Independence of the MSCA & ERC: aim to ensure the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions’ and the European Research Council's independence.
3. Improved Career Prospects: aim for measures to enhance career prospects and working conditions for researchers.
4. Modernise Research Assessment to reduce administrative burdens and foster innovation.

Read more details here.

EU research commissioner Iliana Ivanova will visit Athens on October 21 to launch Europe’s first network of venture capitalists dedicated to supporting deep tech innovation.

The group of venture capitalists, committed to co-investing with the European Innovation Council Fund, aims to drive the growth of cutting-edge technology startups across Europe.

Ivanova will also meet with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to discuss boosting Greece's role in the European innovation landscape and align investment strategies with national priorities.

More here.

The alliance of independent European research institutes in the life sciences EU-LIFE has put forward a list of five “key actions for a competitive Europe.”

As former Italian prime ministers Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta and former Portuguese research minister Manuel Heitor released their reports which put R&I at the core of EU competitiveness, the research lobby group provided its reaction pointing five key actions for a competitive Europe.

1. Be ambitious, yet realistic: Aim for longer-term, more impactful outcomes, but this is only realistic by doubling and ring-fencing the investment on R&I.

2. Empower the ecosystem: Invest in rewarding research careers, effective knowledge transfer and cutting-edge research infrastructure. Improve excellence of research institutions in a quality-based, open, equitable, fair and diverse way.

3. Ensure coherence: Give the ERC, EIC and MSCA priority in the upcoming financial cycle and coherently group them in a R&I single umbrella with excellent research infrastructure and clear investment in discovery-driven and collaborative research.

4. Strike the right balance: Balance public and private investments wisely: industrial strategies should not overshadow the critical need to invest public funding in fundamental research. Strong, resilient and impactful excellent research requires a clear bottom-up approach with researchers and innovators in the driving seat.

5. Keep it simple: Plan for an evolution of Horizon Europe that breaks siloes and contributes further to the common effort of making a healthy and prosperous Europe.

“An upgrade of Europe’s competitiveness and Research & Innovation strategy is overdue and of great importance. EU-LIFE offers the expertise of its community and leadership to accompany the reform process,” said Giulio Superti-Furga, Chair of EU-LIFE.

Read more details here.

Slovenia’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Innovation has released its position on the upcoming EU research framework programme, FP10, set to launch in 2028, outlining seven key recommendations, including “a comprehensive overhaul of the cooperation between the European Commission and member states and associated countries.

The paper says the Commission and member states should identify together common priorities and jointly agree on a governance under FP10.

“Priority-setting procedures need to be renewed in a way that will allow for a genuine partnershi between the [Commission] and [member states and associated countries] in the further development of the current R&I system,” the paper says.

Slovenia also advocates for more balanced funding, increased investment in partnerships, and a stronger role for social sciences and humanities (SSH) in FP10.

Read Slovenia’s position on FP10 here.

The ERC Scientific Council is currently convening in Berlin, for its first plenary meeting in the German capital since the launch of the ERC in February 2007.

Prior to the plenary, members of the Scientific Council will engage in a high-level event on research excellence, with research German Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger and ERC President Maria Leptin, followed by a press briefing and a gathering with ERC grantees.

More details here.