Viewpoint: Europe’s research priorities must catch up with reality

As Europe transitions into summer, the heat is rising in the debate about the next cycle of its flagship research and innovation Framework Programme. A fundamental question looms: in what kind of future are we investing?

Since 1945 Europe’s research priorities have revolved around a simple formula: technological innovation equals economic growth, equals social progress. That logic made sense in the ashes of World War II, but the world – and Europe – have changed.

Today, we face a very different landscape, with rising inequality, fractured societies, erosion of trust in democratic institutions and geopolitical uncertainty. In this context, a research strategy focused solely on economic output and tech-driven competitiveness is not just outdated, it is recklessly insufficient.

If Europe wants to remain globally competitive and strengthen its social model, it must reimagine what progress means for research and innovation investment and must place questions of citizens’ needs, human rights and ethics at the heart of its vision. 

For decades, GDP has dominated the political and economic discourse. It measures what economies produce, but not what societies achieve. It says nothing about whether citizens are healthy, educated, safe, free or happy.

In contrast, the Social Progress Index (SPI) assesses how well countries provide for people’s needs: healthcare, education, housing, rights and access to opportunity. The latest SPI data is sobering. Four out of five people globally live in countries where social progress is stagnating or declining.

This isn’t just a social crisis, but an alarm to encourage new strategic choices. Societies that can’t meet their people’s needs, including their sense of wellbeing, become breeding grounds for instability, populism and illiberalism.

A social model built on research

Europe today enjoys some of the highest living standards in the world. That success was not automatic. It was built on decades of deliberate investment in public goods such as healthcare, education, social protections, cultural infrastructure and academic freedom.

Critically, these policies were shaped and refined by insights and ideas from scholars addressing critical social questions and assessing policies, indicators of inequality and the hard work of those working in the humanities and social sciences. These disciplines identified gaps, mapped disparities and offered insights that led to public policies that made systems more inclusive and sustainable and drove economic growth. 

But that legacy is now being tested. As budgets tighten and political rhetoric hardens, the role of the humanities and social sciences in shaping our collective future is at risk. And that’s a mistake we can’t afford.

The narrative around the next EU Framework Programme suggests a focus on three keywords: competitiveness, defence and democracy. These are the right priorities, but they are being approached in the wrong way.

Competitiveness is still framed almost exclusively in terms of technological innovation and markets. Yet reports from Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta show that Europe’s problem is weak policy integration and limited technology transfer. Without understanding the human, cultural and institutional barriers to adoption, innovation cannot deliver its full benefits.

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Defence, meanwhile, is often reduced to militarisation. But true peace demands deeper insight. We must monitor how the forces that drive instability, including nationalism, marginalisation, misinformation, propaganda cultural alienation lead to conflict. 

These are issues about which political scientists, historians, psychologists and anthropologists can inform the diplomats who are on the frontline for peacebuilding. We cannot just rely on generals and engineers. And the cost of this research is minuscule compared to militarisation and weapons development.

And democracy, perhaps the most urgent pillar of the next Framework Programme, must be more than a checkbox. Europe is still a stronghold of liberal democracy, but cracks are appearing. Abroad, efforts such as the Project 2025 agenda in the US, have shown how easily and quickly democratic norms can be eroded from within. Funding to monitor our democracies’ progress is critical.

This erosion doesn’t start with tanks. It starts with silence. With the threats to, and defunding of, academic research. With attacks on data transparency, gender equality and diversity initiatives. With the attacks on, and withdrawal of support for, disciplines that educate on critical thinking, ethical reasoning and historical context. 

Does Europe want to slide down a similar path? Funding to protect our democracies is critical.

Resilience isn’t enough

Early glimpses of the next Multiannual Financial Framework offer little comfort that policymakers will take the social dimension into account. The humanities and social sciences are still treated as peripheral, tasked with helping people become “resilient” rather than helping shape the kind of society we are building in the first place.

But resilience is just survival. What Europe needs is ambition: to prevent crises, to imagine better systems, to nurture democratic values, to foster growth and to sustain cultural vitality. That means moving beyond token support for the humanities and social sciences and making mainstream and critical investments in both fundamental and cross border research. 

It means including social knowledge into the design of all major initiatives, from green transitions to artificial intelligence governance, from healthcare policy to security and peacebuilding. Not as an afterthought, but as a dedicated investment in this research so that it becomes a guiding principle for pro-social policymaking.

The evidence is clear: Europe cannot meet the challenges of this century with a research strategy designed for the last one. And it certainly cannot defend democracy, ensure security or guarantee prosperity without understanding the societies it aims to serve.

Social scientists, historians, artists and philosophers are not a luxury. They are Europe’s competitive edge in a world where values, meaning and legitimacy matter more than ever.

The next Framework Programme is not just a funding instrument. It is a political signal. It is a statement about what we believe, what we value and what kind of Europe we are committed to building. Let’s ensure it reflects the full complexity, and humanity, of that task.

Gabi Lombardo is the director of the European Alliance for Social Sciences and Humanities.