European Innovation Council needs independence from Commission, says German assessment

The European Innovation Council (EIC) cannot create breakthrough innovations because it is too bureaucratic and not independent of the European Commission, a German expert panel has concluded. 

Unless the EIC is given full independence from the Commission, EU member states should set up their own innovation agencies, according to the country’s annual report into its research and innovation system. 

The EIC, initially piloted in 2018, largely distributes grants and equity funding to start-ups at various stages of growth. But it has also positioned itself as a European version of the US Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) model, with programme managers in specific fields such as quantum, space and advanced materials overseeing groups of innovators.

Last year, it announced challenge calls that offer staged funding to teams competing to develop technological prototypes, explicitly aping the ARPA model. 

The move follows criticism from several high-profile reports that European research only produces incremental innovation, rather than disruptive, radically new ideas and products. 

The ARPA model, in which driven, fixed-term programme managers in an independent agency have the freedom and money to hire teams that explore sometimes bizarre-sounding technological visions, is touted as part of the solution. 

However, Germany’s Expert Commission for Research and Innovation is scathing of the EIC’s ambition to become more ARPA-like in its latest report, presented to Chancellor Friedrich Merz last month. 

Written by a panel of academic experts with their own research staff, the Expert Commission’s analysis is viewed as one of the most authoritative reports on Germany’s research world.

Not independent

Its central complaint is that the EIC is not an independent body, like US ARPAs, but ultimately reports to the European Commission, which appoints its board and president. 

“Every ARPA-like institution must be independent of political guidance and control,” the report says. “This prerequisite is not met by the EIC. The EIC is not an independent organisation.”

Another problem is that the EIC’s programme managers lack freedom of action, and sometimes have to supervise hundreds of projects each. Processes are bureaucratic and, unlike ARPAs, the EIC doesn’t cut failing projects short, the report says. 

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The report issues a warning to the Commission: grant the EIC full independence, perhaps through a separate act, or EU member states should bypass Brussels and set up their own innovation agencies. 

“If the EU Commission is not prepared to grant the EIC this necessary political and operational independence [. . .] the expert commission recommends promoting breakthrough innovations through institutions outside existing EU structures.” 

Bypassing Brussels

This is increasingly what European countries are doing anyway. In recent years, Germany and the UK have established independent innovation agencies, Sprind and the Advanced Research and Invention Agency, respectively.

The new Dutch government has committed to create its own innovation agency, putting aside €500 million for the National Agency for Disruptive Innovation. France is mulling over creating its own body. 

Meanwhile, Sweden’s long-established innovation agency Vinnova recently set up a joint anti-drone challenge with Germany’s Sprind.  

Asked to respond to the Expert Commission’s criticism of the EIC, a European Commission spokesperson said that the body already had “substantial independence.” 

The EIC’s board advises the Commission on the EIC’s strategy and implementation “with a requirement under the Horizon Europe legislation for the Commission to follow this advice,” they said. 

The spokesperson said the EIC had been “highly successful” in supporting disruptive innovation. It was already backing “a number of companies with dual-use potential in areas such as drones, space and AI.”

Asked for a comment, a spokesman for the EIC said that the Commission would provide a statement on its behalf.