Horizon Europe is well underway, but the world of European R&D policy goes well beyond the confines of the €95.5 billion R&D programme. EU climate, digital, agriculture and regional policies all have significant research and innovation components. 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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You can read the full archive of this blog here.
The European Commission has adopted the 2025 European Defence Fund (EDF) Work Programme, under which key collaborative defence technologies and capabilities projects will receive more than €1 billion.
In line with Brussels’ Competitiveness Compass, the Work Programme will allocate around or over €100 million to address future challenges in the fields of ground combat, space, air combat and energy resilience and environmental transition.
“This year’s focus is on technologies supporting ground combat and force protection capabilities,” the Commission said. “For the first time, Ukrainian entities will be eligible to receive acceleration support as third parties in this type of calls.”
Of the nine competitive calls for proposals addressing 31 topics that will be launched, one will collect 4% of the EDF 2025 budget for applicants to work on disruptive technologies.
More than €40 million of EU funding is also allocated to R&D efforts in critical areas like cyber and underwater warfare.
Calls for proposals are set to be opened in mid-February 2025. The deadline for submission is 16 October 2025.
Read the full statement here.
FP10 should help unify fragmented EU initiatives, promote collaboration with international partners and anticipate technological developments, according to a paper by EU affairs forum CEPS, health research foundation Wellcome Trust and Imperial College London.
The paper says that FP10 should be split into two parts: one dedicated to industrial competitiveness, the other to multistakeholder partnerships for public goods.
“FP10 cannot simply be designed to distribute funds to European researchers, or to cater to Europe’s strategic need,” the paper reads. “It is pivotal to balance the European strategic dimension with Europe’s ambition to lead on key global challenges.”
The report says FP10 should be include more international partners but also address disparities within Europe.
Read the full paper here.
The European Commission has launched a new Biotech and Biomanufacturing Hub to support the commercialisation of innovative products from SMEs and start-ups.
As part of the Commission’s strategy to boost biotechnology and biomanufacturing in the EU, the Hub will help companies involved in biotechnology, one of the booming innovative sectors in the 27-member bloc, access information on the relevant EU legislation, funding opportunities and support networks.
“Biotechnology is a key driver of industrial innovation, competitiveness and productivity, while using fewer resources, producing less emissions and generating less waste,” said Stéphane Séjourné, executive vice-president for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy.
The Hub will be developed by a dedicated taskforce of small and medium-sized enterprises advisors under the Enterprise Europe Network, the Commission explained.
Read the full statement here.
The UK has invested £1 million in 16 ed-tech companies that aim at developing artificial intelligence (AI) tools to automate part of the teachers’ feedback and assessment process.
“Often, teachers spend a lot of time reviewing and marking students’ work,” the report reads.
With those new AI tools, teachers will not only be able to focus more on direct student interaction and lesson delivery, but they could also see the time that they spend on formative assessments be reduced by as much as 50%, it says.
The 16 developers involved in this initiative, which range from start-ups to universities, will ensure the accuracy and relevance of the tools using a government-backed store of curriculum guidelines, lesson plans and other educational materials.
The report however points out that “for AI to truly change education, it must align with the specific needs of teachers and students, ensuring that the technology complements, rather than replaces, the human elements of teaching.”
More about it here.
The Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research, and Energy (ITRE) approved the renewal of the EU-Ukraine science and technology cooperation agreement by 77 votes to 1, extending it for another five years.
“Ukraine has a long tradition of science and technology excellence and despite the difficulties of the last years and Russia’s unlawful and unprovoked war of aggression, Ukraine still has first class science and scientists, and remains an important science, technology and innovation (STI) actor in the neighbourhood of the Union,” the committee said in a statement today.
The EU and Ukraine first signed the agreement in 2002, renewing it four times since.
A complementary agreement allows Ukraine to participate in Horizon Europe, the EU’s flagship research framework program.
In October, the European Commission released data supporting the renewal approved today, reporting 223 Ukrainian participations in Horizon Europe to date. The target is to reach 336 participations, exceeding Ukraine’s success rate in the previous R&D framework programme, Horizon 2020.
The European Commission has launched RM Comp, a new tool supporting research managers in developing key skills, promoting career goals and aligning practices with European standards.
Developed under EU-funded projects CARDEA and RM ROADMAP, RM Comp helps research managers identify core competencies and advance career development for both individuals and organisations.
“RM Comp enables self-assessment, highlights skill gaps, and guides professional development,” the Commission said.
“Organisations can integrate the framework into hiring practices, training programmes, and performance reviews, while funding agencies and policymakers can use it to promote capacity building and collaboration.”
RM Comp is a complement to EU tools like ResearchComp and EURAXESS.
More about it here.
The European Innovation Council (EIC) selected 40 projects out of 413 submissions, following its Transition call, which will obtain up to €2.5 million to develop innovations in all fields of science and technology.
The EIC Transition is a funding programme under Horizon Europe “devoted to maturing the technologies and build a business case for specific applications,” the EIC said in a statement. It targets innovations that go beyond the experimental proof of principle.
With no predefined thematic restrictions, the EIC pointed to “the most popular [call] so far in terms of submissions.”
Among the winning projects, HeartWise plans on advancing a prototype for an implantable mechanical device that would support blood circulation, FOREVER-WATER targets the destruction of polyfluoroalkyl substances, and UPSRPING seeks to drastically reduce energy consumption of computer chips.
Read more about the winners here.
The European Commission has opened a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) call for doctoral and postdoctoral fellowship programmes.
“Organisations can use the programmes to attract international talent, increase their research and innovation capacities and contribute to the local, regional and/or national socio-economic ecosystems,” MSCA said in a statement.
Under this call, for which the European Commission will award €101.8 million, they can offer doctoral candidates research training activities or fund career development fellowships for postdoctoral researchers.
A single organisation in an EU member state or a country associated to Horizon Europe is eligible to apply.
The deadline for submitting proposals is June 24.
Read more about it here.
The UK launched One IPO Search, a search tool set to simplify access to patent information and help businesses invest in research and development, reflecting governmental efforts to modernise digital services.
Developed by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), One IPO Search will take over from the Ipsum service, which UK innovators had been using for 13 years and handled some 200,000 patent searches in the last 12 months alone
This tool is expected to make patent exploration more inclusive as it eliminates the need for specialised technology knowledge: its users will be able to search keywords in everyday language and spot market trends through visual data analysis.
“For businesses, particularly startups and SMEs, navigating the patent landscape is key but often difficult,” the statement reads. “The service accelerates innovation by facilitating quicker access to relevant data, enabling businesses to translate ideas into market-ready products more efficiently.”
One IPO Search hopes to introduce more functionalities in the future, like receiving patent notifications and AI-assisted teaching.
Read more about it here.
A group of public research funding bodies, research performing organisations and national ministries shared their plans to develop and fund a collective, non-profit open access publishing service.
In a statement of intent, the signatories said that they planned on building Open Research Europe (ORE), an open access publishing platform with open peer-review “in pursuit of more equity, diversity, and transparency in open access publishing.”
Initially set for five years, it will broaden its publishing eligibility criteria beyond European Commission-funded researchers.
The signatories will actively take part in the governance of ORE in collaboration with the Commission and engage with researchers as the advisors, ambassadors, editors, authors and reviewers.
They expect the official launch of the platform by the end of 2026.
Read the full statement here.
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