Europe faces critical choices about its relationship with the rest of the world as it begin to negotiate the post 2028 EU budget. The broad consensus sees strength and prosperity of the Union in terms of its competitiveness, with research, innovation and skills at the heart of the European economy. As such, even actions focused on the needs and opportunities in Europe are defined in relation to other countries and global regions.
This underscores the importance of ensuring the novel Global Europe funding instrument is designed correctly. Europe’s capacity to cooperate with the world, especially with low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), will be shaped by the funding allocations and spending rules decided upon in the next months. However, there are questions about how research, innovation and higher education fits into this global outlook: will these aspects of cooperation with LMICs remain peripheral, or can they be recognised as a strategic enabler of European competitiveness and better implemented to address shared global challenges?
We believe that to achieve its ambitions, the EU must deepen these aspects of international partnerships. Enabling knowledge-driven international collaborations linked to the Global Gateway can provide the foundation for sustainable, prosperous knowledge-based economies and are instrumental in tackling common challenges, including health threats, climate change, and digital transformation. Coalitions of universities, public bodies and research institutes around the world have made the case for this investment, directed at policymakers and representatives of the European people.
During COVID-19, joint research and data sharing with LMICs were indispensable for developing rapid responses and monitoring variants for the benefit of all. Similar lessons apply to the fight against antimicrobial resistance, climate modelling, and renewable energy deployment—none of which can succeed without international collaboration. Beyond global challenges, research can also benefit Europe’s contentious domestic debates, such as its aging population, increasing inequality or shared challenges in non-communicable diseases.
A clearer investment pathway for education and research
As the main instrument for funding the EU’s external action after 2027, the proposed Global Europe instrument stands out for the sheer breadth of its envisaged activities. In an effort to simplify its overall budgetary architecture, the European Commission proposes to merge five of its current instruments together with a proposed budget of €200 billion over seven years. So a wide array of investment, and cooperation activities has been consolidated into one instrument that serves partnerships with countries as widely dispersed as Ukraine to Sudan or Vietnam to Suriname. Furthermore, this instrument also encompasses the EU’s contribution to multilateral initiatives that affect everyone in the world: cutting greenhouse gases under the Paris Agreement, or vaccinations via the World Health Organisation.
With so much for this proposed instrument to do, the proposed structure does not go into great detail and the overall envelope becomes quite tight for many different demands. Unfortunately, at this stage, there is little clarity on the effective role that international research collaboration with LMICs will be given in the future architecture, budget and modalities. European policymakers should keep the Global Gateway framework of priorities at the forefront of their mind so that a sense of concrete purpose and long-term objectives can be maintained and strengthened. Furthermore they should recognise that the Global Gateway fifth priority—education and research—has enormous untapped potential but so far, investment in this priority has been limited and fragmented. Encouraging current initiatives like the African Research Initiative for Scientific Excellence (ARISE) and the emerging Study and Research in Africa can be an example for other regions and future programmes.
The Global Europe regulation is an opportunity for the EU to achieve its ambitions for a clearer pathway for international research and higher education partnerships with LMICs to consolidate long-term, trust-based collaborations that serve both European and global interests in a rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape. This is not to downplay the importance of investing in technical and vocational education and training or networks of civil society organisations. Our argument is that investments in infrastructure – whether digital, physical and/or human-centric – or societal stability crucially depend on and benefit from investments in higher education and research. This also helps to foster the people-to-people linkages that Global Gateway ultimately seeks to promote.
A better hearing for education and research for international partnership planning
All too often, the education and research stakeholders from Europe or partner countries outside Europe are not at the table so they cannot present their case for investments that strengthen knowledge societies. The Global Gateway Forum taking place this week in Brussels, will open with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and will gather government leaders and industry representatives. Only a few stakeholders who could contribute to Europe’s international partnerships in education and research were invited to attend. Indeed, under the Global Gateway initiative’s governance arrangement, the Commission has established a Business Advisory Group which meets regularly, as well as a Civil Society and Local Authorities Platform. We urge for a dedicated research-focused advisory group—with representatives from Europe and LMICs—which would multiply the Global Gateway’s impact and give Europe a way to show research leadership on the multilateral stage.
Setting Global Europe up to work well with flagship European education and research programmes
The next Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ programmes should ensure that European researchers, students and innovators can collaborate seamlessly with peers in LMICs, without artificial distinctions or barriers in funding mechanisms. Simplification of EU budget and participation rules must not come at the expense of equitable partnerships and genuine co-creation. It is clear that Global Europe has a significant role to play here. It can use its funds effectively via these proven and admired funding instruments. This is envisaged in the Erasmus+ proposed regulation but without a specific budget allocation. If research, innovation and skills are vital for Europe's economy and Global Gateway priorities, why not increase Global Europe's contribution to Erasmus+ from the current €2.2. billion to €6 billion?
Then, with Horizon Europe’s excellence criterion expected to continue, Europe and its partner countries have a richly creative role to play with Global Europe investments that translate knowledge into jobs, infrastructure and capacity building, fitted to different parts of the world, so that research excellence can in turn thrive more widely for the benefit of us all.
Europe’s competitiveness, resilience, and global credibility depend on making research, innovation, and higher education central to the Global Europe programme. Failure to act risks leaving Europe to fall behind and lose our connection with partners around the world.
The Global Gateway Forum on 9–10 October is the moment for Europe to show leadership. The time for decisive investment and political commitment is now.
This article was originally published in News Tank Academic.
ERAsuD
Vincent Fautrel and Niels Keijzer are members of the European Research Alliance for Sustainable Development (ERASUD) comprised of 12 leading European research institutions (research centers, think tanks, and universities) from eight European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Norway).