Eureka’s Global Innovation Summit in 2025 wrapped up with more than 900 attendees from 50 countries. Organised by Eureka’s Canadian and German Co-Chair to take place within Hannover Messe on 1 and 2 April, Eureka’s flagship event had insightful keynote speeches, panel discussions, Eureka Academy and country sessions and plenty of networking, matchmaking and pitching platforms.
The Global Innovation Summit opened with speeches given by Belit Onay, the Mayor of Hannover, Jochen Köckler, Chairman of the Deutsche Messe and Rudolf Haggenmüller, Eureka President. We were able to welcome Claudia Müller, Parliamentary State Secretary at Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), to the stage, who emphasised the need for international collaboration with trusted partners, stating "co-innovation around the globe leads to even greater success". Ailish Campbell, Ambassador of Canada to the European Union Embassy of Canada to Germany, also spoke, expressing how Eureka's community is aligned on the importance of science.
During the event, enlightening keynote speeches were given by Evelyne Coulombe, Chargée d'Affaires at the Embassy of Canada to Germany, Iris Plöger, Executive Board Member at BDI and Lisa Reehten, CEO at Bosch Energy and Building Solutions, on the role of international co-innovation.
Other highlights of the event included several sessions on the theme of circular value creation in light of an upcoming multimillion euro call for projects on this topic to be launched through our Network projects programme in June 2025. There, companies and industry leaders could share their expertise and thoughts on circular economy challenges to be overcome.
We announced several new funding opportunities: for circular value creation, lightweighting and disaster resilience projects and for linking up organisations in multiple Eureka countries. In addition, a new call for projects with Taiwanese organisations launched on 1 April, with committed funding from five countries and regions.
The event was an opportunity for innovators to discover the benefits of Eureka's programmes at the Eureka Academy sessions and national funding rules at dedicated country sessions hosted by Eureka's network representatives. We were honoured with the attendance of Erkki Keldo, Estonian Minister of Economic Affairs and Industry, who spoke in a panel discussion and supported a well-attended session on innovation in the Baltic countries.
Networking at the Global Innovation Summit was complemented by Hannover Messe, where attendees could also take advantage of what the trade fair of 200,000 attendees had to offer in sessions and exhibitions.
Throughout the Global Innovation Summit, messages swirled on the continuing significance of international collaboration in driving innovation, and we were glad to have facilitated the development of new global research and business relationships.
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