The EU can have the European Competitiveness Fund and a standalone Framework Programme for research and innovation. “We can have both,” Ekaterina Zaharieva, EU commissioner for start-ups, research and innovation, said in a press briefing today.
The EU executive is very close to making a decision on the structure of the Competitiveness Fund, a new overarching financial tool designed to focus the EU budget on boosting innovation, strategic autonomy and economic growth.
The new fund would encompass a range of EU programmes, including FP10, a plan that has been met with harsh criticism from member states, the European Parliament and the research community, who fear the new structure would undermine the integrity and effectiveness of existing research and innovation funding schemes.
Zaharieva wanted to reassure the research community that FP10 will continue as a standalone programme, noting that the Commission has received positive feedback on Horizon Europe so far, both from industry and academia. That positive feedback will matter in upcoming negotiations.
However, Zaharieva said the debate on the structure of the Competitiveness Fund is still ongoing among officials in the directorates-general, the Commission’s main policymaking structures. “There are expert groups, working processes in the Commission itself, in the directorates-general, [and] at the political level,” she said. The plan is for the next multiannual EU budget and plans for FP10 to be published in July.
After that date, Zaharieva said, the European Parliament, member states and the research community will have the opportunity to negotiate the structure of FP10 and its standing in the Competitiveness Fund. “The member states’ opinion matters,” she said. “In the end, it is a process that will be approved in the Council, in the Parliament, with the stakeholders.”
Related articles
Last month,EU research ministers signed a joint declaration calling for a standalone FP10 outside the Competitiveness Fund. The Parliament has alsoadopted a report calling for a standalone FP10. Both documents lay the ground for a conflict with the Commission, if the Competitiveness Fund swallows up FP10.
The EU’scompetitiveness strategy has also prompted fears that Brussels intends to undermine the independence of the European Research Council (ERC) by pushing for more alignment with the European Innovation Council (EIC) and the EU’s broader political goals in the development of advanced technologies. But Zaharieva said that “preserving the autonomy” of the EIC and ERC is “really important.”
Zaharieva made the comments in response to questions from Science|Business at a press briefing on Thursday, on the margins of the EIC Summit, a yearly gathering organised by the Commission to promote EU funding programmes for start-ups and to bring together innovative companies and investors.
Former EU research commissioner Carlos Moedas, who is now mayor of Lisbon, was also at the EIC Summit to promote the idea of “unicorn factories” in cities across the EU, which would serve as a pipeline of innovative start-ups for the EIC. In a press briefing after the conference, Moedas refused to comment on the Commission’s internal talks on FP10 and the Competitiveness Fund.
As research commissioner, Moedas helped kick-start the EIC and was a promoter of strong links between research and innovation. He told Science|Business that the EIC is crucial for the sovereignty of the EU and “it should be independent.” As for the structure of FP10, Moedas said “I am always sceptical of big changes.”