Commission sets out plan for EU Innovation Act

The results of a public consultation on the forthcoming EU Innovation Act have been released by the European Commission, along with an outline of the expected scope of the legislation.

The act, which is due to be presented in the first quarter of 2026, is intended to address the barriers that prevent innovative ideas reaching the market, across all technology areas. 

“We want to help the entire innovation ecosystem across the EU, whatever the sector,” said Branislav Turcina, policy officer at the Commission, during a webinar hosted by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology on November 4.

He went on to present the results of the public consultation, which closed last month, and the likely scope of the legislation, which reflects the topics put to stakeholders.

Regulatory framework

The first area under discussion relates to the EU regulatory framework. The Commission is considering introducing EU-level definitions of innovative companies, start-ups and scale-ups. A large majority of stakeholders believe this would allow future support measures to be better targeted. “That’s very much in line with our thinking,” Turcina said.

The legislation could also define regulatory sandboxes, which allow for the testing of innovative technologies in a real-world environment with regulatory oversight.

Sandboxes provide early dialogue with regulators and can help to speed up time to market, but innovators face barriers including unequal access, inconsistent understandings of regulatory sandboxes across member states and a lack of cross-border recognition of results.

In addition to an EU-wide definition, the Commission is considering introducing a “set of basic rules governing establishment, operation and also the follow-up to the outcomes of the regulatory sandboxes across the EU, which would then allow also for more cross-border cooperation,” Turcina said.

The research community is keen to see greater use of national and cross-border sandboxes. In its contribution to a Commission call for evidence, the Danish government suggested the text should set out some general guiding principles for the deployment of sandboxes that allow for “flexible implementation adapted to a national context.”

Volvo Group, which is among the European companies investing the most in R&D, also supports regulatory sandboxes as a way to explore new technologies and allow start-ups and scale-ups to use industry data to validate their innovations. “Easier set-up of shared sandboxes would enable corporations and start-ups to collaborate on technology faster,” it said in its contribution.

Access to finance

While the Innovation Act is not intended to establish funding programmes, it could include legislative measures relating to access to finance. While Turcina gave no specific examples, he highlighted the need for EU governments to do more, complementing the target of spending 3% of GDP on R&D. “We believe there should also be specific financing for innovation, which means commercialising the results that are developed through research and development,” he said.

Access to markets

Barriers to accessing public procurement raised by companies during the consultation include slow procedures, the importance given to price in evaluation criteria, payment patterns unsuited to start-ups and scale-ups and fragmentation of procurement rules across member states.

Ekaterina Zaharieva, the commissioner responsible for research and innovation, has previously suggested the Innovation Act could address market access through measures such as minimum requirements for public procurement to buy European innovations.

Access to research and technology infrastructures

During the consultation, the Commission was particularly keen to understand the issues faced by smaller companies when trying to test their solutions in research and technology infrastructures, Turcina said.

Two thirds of those surveyed agreed that the conditions for accessing research and technology infrastructures are often complex and unclear, and 60% agreed they are not sufficiently open to small and innovative companies.

Possible solutions proposed by stakeholders include harmonised access frameworks across the EU, dedicated funding in Horizon Europe to subsidise access to high-value infrastructures for start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs, and simplified state aid rules for accessing research infrastructures.

In its response, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology proposed establishing a network of innovation testing zones, hosted at universities and research and technology organisations and co-developed with regulators and industry, along the same lines as its Norwegian Ocean Technology Centre.

Commercialisation

The Innovation Act is also expected to tackle barriers to commercialising research results, such as a lack of resources for university technology transfer offices, and uncertainty around state aid rules and the licencing of intellectual property to private partners.

In its contribution, the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities urged the Commission to clarify exemptions for research activities in state aid rules and the types of support universities can offer to their spin-offs, such as preferential access to research infrastructures. “Introducing flexibility on state aid rules governing support to spin offs would allow universities to comply with their obligation to make the best efforts to exploit the outcomes of their research,” it writes.

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Universities and research organisations stressed that the Innovation Act should support the whole research and innovation pipeline, not just the so-called valley of death between R&D and market uptake.

“Many ideas from universities and research institutions lack sufficient pre-seed funding to reach proof-of-concept stage,” said the Netherlands House for Education and Research, representing the Dutch knowledge sector. “Without support here, promising ideas fail before becoming start-ups.”

Research stakeholders also believe the Innovation Act should be closely linked to the upcoming European Research Area Act, which will seek to address barriers to the free movement of researchers and knowledge and boost national investments.

Attracting and retaining talent

When it comes to attracting and retaining talent, the lack of a harmonised scheme for employee stock options across the EU was flagged as a key barrier. This could be addressed in the Innovation Act or in the upcoming proposal for an optional EU-wide company law framework, known as the 28th regime.

Academic career paths that do not reward industry-related experience and difficulties for companies to recruit talent from outside the EU were also highlighted.

The Cesaer university association suggested measures to support industrial PhDs and “innovation professorships” combining academic research with applied innovation roles; fast-track visas and work permits for researchers and start-up founders; and “entrepreneurs in residence” programmes within universities and research centres.