In the past few years, the priorities within the EU's research and innovation (R&I) policy landscape have shifted. Research and innovation are more important than ever, given the urgent need to increase Europe’s competitiveness and resilience and to address the societal challenges we are facing in Europe and in the world at large. Against this backdrop, the event provided a timely debate on how R&I needs to be framed in the context of geopolitical tensions, and the call for a new vision for Europe's competitiveness.
Svein Stølen, Rector of the University of Oslo and Chair of The Guild opened the event by highlighting the importance of science. Europe needs to increase its investments in R&I to tackle urgent issues such as climate change.
Setting the scene for the discussion, Alexandr Hobza, Chief economist at the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) of the European Commission (EC), presented the current state of the R&I system within Europe. In his presentation Hobza stressed the underutilisation of the R&I ecosystem, with the EU not reaching its 3% R&D target, lagging behind competitors (US, Japan and China) in terms of Gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD). Furthermore, Hobza zoomed in on evidence indicating that the EU underperforms when it comes to complex technologies, compared with China and the USA. He also highlighted the unequal distribution of innovation capacities across and within Member States. To unleash the full potential of European R&I Hobza argued that “we need to avoid short-termism and have stable and predictable investments to better integrate R&I into the broader policy mix”. He also stated that “we need to strengthen excellence (while ensuring cohesion), to strike a balance between directionality and curiosity and to make innovation policies more innovative”.
Moderated by Acting Secretary-General of The Guild Ole Petter Ottersen the panellists first discussed how to improve collaboration within innovation ecosystems. Magda Chlebus, Executive Director of Science Policy & Regulatory Affairs at European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries (EFPIA), stated that to improve competitiveness, we need an ecosystem where there are as many interactions and connections as possible supported by adequate policies. She called for investments in cross-country collaborations. Focusing on curiosity driven and applied research, Chlebus emphasised that “fundamental and applied research are driven by many legislations, but they are becoming so complex that they stifle innovation. We need to reduce the complexity”.
On the knowledge valorisation capacity of universities, Vice-Rector for Research at the University of Bologna Alberto Credi commented that over the last three decades the capacity has improved significantly and urged for academia to strengthen collaborations with non-academic actors. “Investments to increase knowledge valorisation capacities are welcome but not to the detriment of the overall research budget.” Credi said that “innovation is not a linear process, it is a machine that is made of different parts”. Innovation is about people: we need to attract and train young talents for innovation, contributing to Europe’s competitiveness.
Lars Frølund, Member of the Board of the European Innovation Council and Special Advisor to Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager called for Europe to advocate for institutional innovation and underscored the importance of creating an innovation ecosystem that allows for more freedom. Maria Leptin, President of the European Research Council (ERC) emphasised that Europe already has an instrument which allows for more freedom and less red tape, the ERC. The ERC has its own forum and rules so instead of curtailing the ERC, the EU should learn from it. “Science is global. If we do not share information, we do not get information.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the war in Gaza have precipitated discussions about dual-use technologies. Earlier this year, the Commission launched a consultation on whether technologies with both civil and military applications should be funded in the next Framework Programme for research and innovation (FP10). Panellists largely agreed that most research has potential for dual use. Problems occur when researchers are asked to design research specifically for dual use purposes. Panellists stated that one needs to differentiate clearly between research with dual use potential and research that primarily serves military purposes.
Closing the event, Svein Stølen, Rector of the University of Oslo and Chair of The Guild, noted the need to create ecosystems which develop on their own but not in isolation, where all actors (academia, industry, research & innovation organisations) come together, supported by EU policies. To reduce the innovation gap, Europe should double the budget for FP10 and tailor the Framework Programme to fit a diversity of needs because “One size does not fit all.”
Acting Secretary-General Ole Petter Ottersen on the event: "We cannot afford to continue lagging behind the US, Japan, and China and our own goals when it comes to investments in R&I. The current geopolitical situation and the global challenges we are facing require that we step up and better integrate research and innovation. We need R&I policies that promote frontier science, that allow for flexibility, and that boost Europe’s competitiveness in complex technologies with due recognition of the importance of social sciences, arts, and the humanities for societal development and resilience."
Photo credits: © Geoffrey Fritsch