Academia rallies against considered competitiveness fund but aligns with Commission priorities 

The research community rallied to protect expert councils but otherwise echoed the European Commission's talking points after a briefing on the expert report on the Commission’s flagship research and innovation (R&I) programme, Horizon Europe, published on Wednesday (16 October). 

The long-awaited report calls for a more than doubling of the budget to €220 billion, “radical simplification” of R&I funding and more funding allocated by independent councils in FP10, the successor of Horizon Europe. 

Wednesday's meeting quickly turned to how to protect independent councils from the Commission's reported idea of scrapping them in favour of a centralised European Competitiveness Fund (ECF). 

"We don't want to be told top-down what to do! This is a killer of fundamental research, and fundamental researchers are the innovators of tomorrow," Conny Aerts, a member of the expert group behind the report, said. 

She said the European Research Council (ERC) sees a five-fold return on investment. 

“What I’ve heard from this report blows the plans for a competitiveness fund right out of the water,” said Jan Palmowski, Secretary General of the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities, after the report's presentation.

The Guild, the League of European Research Universities (LERU), and the European University Association, have all expressed strong support for the report to Euractiv. 

DG RTD stays silent 

Kurt Deketelaere, Secretary-General for LERU, also voiced LERU’s call for DG RTD to provide clarity on the ongoing budget discussions during the meeting. 

Director-General of DG RTD Marc Lemaître, led the meeting but did not respond to any questions. 

Commission-aligned "competitiveness,” non-civilian research not discussed 

The expert group welcomed the top-down strategic initiatives, but wanted independent experts such as themselves, rather than the Commission to be responsible for translating policy priorities into R&I funding.  

"[More] directionality but less prescription,” said Sylvia Schwaag Serger, member of the expert goup and president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, during the meeting. 

Two of the four “spheres” of action recommended in the report mention competitiveness, including a proposal to set up an Industrial Competitiveness and Technology Council. 

A new experimental unit and a flexible innovation procurement programme are proposed to “foster disruptive, breakthrough and transformative scientific advances and innovation.” 

The report also makes the case for the potential military applications of research to be a key consideration of FP10, in line with Commission white paper published in January. 

There are “two years of strong advocacy” ahead, said Manuel Heitor, chair of the expert group and previous Portuguese minister of science, technology and higher education, during the meeting. 

“This is not the end, it's the beginning,” he said. 

[Edited by Eliza Gkritsi/Daniel Eck]