As new Commission takes the reins, what can we expect for R&D?

After weeks of haggling among political groups, the European Parliament has finally approved a new team of commissioners, to be led by returning European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. They will take office on 1 December.

In a speech to the Parliament on Wednesday, von der Leyen emphasised the crucial role of research and innovation in her new mandate, announcing a plan to close the EU’s innovation gap with the US and China. Research and innovation will be placed “at the heart of our economy,” she said. 

But how will her new team of commissioners achieve that?

Over the past few weeks, we have combed through official plans for each commissioner and listened to what they had to say during hearings in the Parliament. Here’s a roundup of the main ideas, plans and strategies for research and innovation and for Framework Programme 10 (FP10). 

Ekaterina Zaharieva, the new research commissioner, outlines plans for FP10

For now, the new commissioner for Start-ups, Research and Innovation has diffused fears that research funding will be merged in a mega competitiveness fund. She told MEPs the development of the next Framework Programme will be a “top priority” of her mandate.

In written responses to questions from the European Parliament published ahead of her hearing on 5 November, Zaharieva laid out her preliminary vision for “a new and strengthened Framework Programme 10”, drawing on the recent Draghi report on EU competitiveness and the conclusions of the Commission’s independent FP10 advisory group.

How Zaharieva breezed through soft Brussels grilling

During her hearing, Zaharieva promised to radically simplify the EU Framework Programme and make it more attractive for start-ups and SMEs to take part.

Simplification was a common thread in Zaharieva’s answers. She noted that a simpler, easier to use Framework Programme would speed things up and reduce the time from application to grant agreement, which currently stands at nearly 12 months. 

Zaharieva said she “really like[s]” the proposal by the Heitor group on FP10, of introducing a “trust first, evaluate later” principle, to simplify and shorten the application process. She is also in favour of lump-sum funding, two concrete examples of how the application process can be simplified.  

From 2025, Zaharieva wants to trial a two-stage application process to reduce application times. The first phase will be “focused on the core of the project”, with more documents to be provided if a project progresses to stage two. 

Zaharieva is also in favour of double-blind evaluation, a process which would reduce the odds of evaluation bias. This was already the subject of a pilot project currently being evaluated by the Commission. 

Read our analysis of her hearing here. 

New budget commissioner plays down talk of competitiveness mega fund

Piotr Serafin, Commissioner for budget, anti-fraud and public administration, has played down rumours circulating in Brussels and denied reports the Commission is planning a complete overhaul of the EU budget, but has said there should be fewer funds and that these should be linked to national reforms.

A leaked memo  suggested all research and innovation funds managed by Brussels, could be subsumed into a single European Competitiveness Fund. But Serafin denied the existence of such a plan. “Up until now there is no proposal of the European Commission for the future multiannual financial framework. Whatever you have read in the press, it is not the proposal of the Commission for the next MFF.”

Von der Leyen has promised to propose a new Competitiveness Fund to support strategic sectors such as artificial intelligence, clean tech and biotech. The Commission is still debating the form this fund will take, Serafin said, but the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) launched earlier this year provides a glimpse of what could be expected.

Read our analysis of his hearing here. 

New industry commissioner wants a more proactive industrial policy

Stéphane Séjourné, executive vice president for prosperity and industrial strategy, outlined his vision for the proposed European Competitiveness Fund, but provided just as many questions as answers.

The Competitiveness Fund is intended to be a one stop shop to support science and technology-based companies “from research and development through scale up” to ensure they can grow in Europe, Séjourné told MEPs.

“It’s not about doing away with different funds, it’s about having a single access point that would then steer [a] company towards the most appropriate support,” he said.

But while in written answers prior to the hearing, Séjourné said, “EU spending, including for competitiveness, is spread over too many programmes, many of which fund the same things but with different requirements and difficulties to combine funding effectively,” during the hearing he declined to cite an example of overlapping funds that could be abolished, and suggested this would not be the focus of his efforts.

Read our full analysis here. 

Tech sovereignty czar moots EU quantum act

The new commissioner for tech sovereignty, security and democracy has revealed she is drawing up a Quantum Act to pull together fragmented research efforts by member states. Henna Virkkunen argued that quantum technologies are a European strength, but that EU legislation is needed to consolidate individual member state programmes. 

Virkkunen didn’t explicitly say what aspects of quantum technology she wants to boost, but talked of introducing a “quantum chips act”, suggesting that she primarily has quantum computing in her sights. The proposal for an act takes up a suggestion made in September by the European Liberal Forum, a think tank affiliated to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe parliamentary bloc, when it warned that member states are duplicating quantum computing research, not investing enough, and need big spending on quantum computing infrastructure. 

Read our full analysis here.