Research, Technology & Industrial Capacity

As a cornerstone of the EU’s Life Sciences Strategy, the law will make Europe the most attractive place for biotech by 2030 by speeding approvals and risk assessments without compromising safety, unlocking risk-tolerant finance and biomanufacturing scale, building EU-wide clusters/infrastructure, closing skills gaps, and enabling trusted AI/data use (incl. supercomputing and EHDS links). It tackles single-market fragmentation across health, agri-food, industrial and marine biotech, strengthening competitiveness and economic security. Expected impacts of the law includes faster time-to-market, deeper investment pipelines, resilient supply chains and environmental benefits, supported by strong EU governance.

The next work programme will channel major investments into Europe’s industrial and scientific transformation. A €600 million flagship call under the Clean Industrial Deal will bridge R&I and deployment, fostering synergies with the Innovation Fund and supporting fusion through new PPPs. In life sciences, the Commission will establish a network of ATMP Centres of Excellence (€4 million), pilot stepwise collaborative health research funding, and invest €50 million in multi-modal genAI for biomedical research. €170 million will support a new health–climate agenda, complemented by global research collaboration and foresight on life sciences skills.

The council will be reformed to operate more strategically and ambitiously, inspired by the US ARPA model. It will shift towards challenge-driven, staged funding for breakthrough, high-risk technologies, focusing on strategic EU priorities and research excellence. The reform will simplify procedures, strengthen the Trusted Investor Network, and build closer ties with Europe’s unicorns to improve policy feedback loops. By combining public and private capital, the EIC will accelerate the scale-up of deep-tech companies in critical sectors and better align innovation funding with Europe’s competitiveness, technological sovereignty, and security objectives.

The EU Bioeconomy Strategy combines regulatory, investment and market actions to support sustainable and circular bio-based activity. The Commission plans work on biotechnology, construction-product standards, biomass monitoring, bio-based plastics, public procurement, biogas and biomethane, and industrial symbiosis. It will also establish forums and investment arrangements, support blue-bioeconomy innovation, provide practical guidance for land managers, and pursue international cooperation, stakeholder dialogue and EU-wide monitoring.

RAISE has entered a pilot phase as the Resource for Artificial Intelligence Science in Europe. The European Commission and the Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU organised the European AI in Science Summit in Copenhagen, where Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen and Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva announced its launch.

Adopted alongside the Apply AI Strategy, this initiative fast-tracks responsible AI uptake across disciplines and builds the foundations of RAISE (i.e. a virtual European institute that pools talent, compute, data and funding for “science for AI” and “AI in science”). It launches Thematic Networks of Excellence and RAISE Doctoral Networks; secures priority access to EuroHPC AI Factories and future AI Gigafactories; and links Data Labs with EOSC and other data spaces. Ethics-by-design guidance and “living” rules govern use, while ERA-based coordination, indicators and summits align Member States and industry. Horizon Europe anchors early actions and an investment agenda for 2026-27.

The strategy aims to improve Europe's research and technology infrastructure capacity, investment and access. It covers criteria and roadmaps for infrastructures of European interest, funding coordination, upgrades, transnational collaboration and services for startups and scaleups. It also addresses FAIR and AI-ready research data, an enhanced EOSC Federation, coordinated governance, skills, international partnerships, resilience, and trusted storage, processing and sharing of critical data.

The Life Sciences Strategy addresses fragmented funding and innovation systems, regulatory complexity and slow market uptake. Its actions include the Biotech Act, coordinated work on new biomedical research methods, a research and innovation agenda for food systems, and a data assembly for cross-regulatory cooperation. The Commission presents these measures as support for innovation, economic growth and job creation in European life sciences.

Skills. The Strategy will launch a European Quantum Skills Academy - initially virtual, then networked - linked to Quantum Competence Clusters and Semiconductors Competence Centres. It will host a Quantum Talent Portal, fellowship schemes and “teach-the-teacher” modules to broaden participation and close the gender gap. Complementary actions include a Digital Europe–funded Quantum Apprenticeship pilot and returnships; Advanced Digital Skills Competitions from 2026; an EIC Researchers-in-Residence scheme placing scientists in quantum startups; and a European Quantum Talent Mobility Programme with fellowships for non-EU PhDs and professionals. Skills intelligence will track needs via the European Skills Intelligence Observatory, ensuring training aligns with fast-evolving industrial demand. Research. It contains coordinated roadmaps to speed research-to-industry. The Commission will publish an EU Quantum Computing and Simulation Roadmap, a Quantum Chips Industrialisation Roadmap, and a European Quantum Standards Roadmap, while expanding Quantum Competence Clusters to link labs, pilot lines and design facilities. It adds a coordinated European Quantum Sensing, Measurement and Testing Roadmap. To catalyse uptake, the EU will pilot two Grand Challenges (fault-tolerant computing; quantum PNT) and launch a Pilot Programme for Researchers-in-Residence in quantum startups. For dual-use and space, it will deliver a Quantum Technology Roadmap in space with ESA and a Quantum Sensing Space & Defence Technology Roadmap aligning civil-security priorities. Infrastructure. The strategy’s infrastructure track will strengthen secure networks, prove platforms, and link civil–defence use. EuroQCI expands 2025–2035 with cross-border terrestrial links, satellite ground stations and EU certification, converging with IRIS² for end-to-end QKD services. In 2026, a pilot European Quantum Internet will test quantum-safe components and early use cases alongside the EU’s post-quantum cryptography roadmap. Europe will deploy ground/airborne gravimeters and prepare a space-gravimetry pathfinder after 2030. A centralised network of open-access quantum testbeds will serve developers, startups and SMEs. An EU-wide Quantum Technology Risk Assessment concludes in 2026. Spin-in initiatives from 2026 accelerate defence uptake.

Europe’s competitiveness in the green and digital transitions will depend on its ability to develop, produce and deploy next-generation materials at scale. To achieve this, the Commission will propose an Advanced Materials Act establishing clear framework conditions for the entire value chain; from fundamental research and prototyping to manufacturing and market uptake. The Act will focus on accelerating industrialisation, de-risking private investment and securing resilient supply chains for materials critical to clean technologies, energy, defence and space. By providing a coherent strategic framework, it aims to reduce dependencies, boost technological sovereignty and position Europe as a global leader in advanced materials innovation.

This initiative will standardise and simplify industrial access to Europe’s research and technology infrastructures so innovators can prototype, test and scale faster. It will set common, transparent access and contractual terms (e.g. IP use, pricing, liability, data handling) across borders and introduce a streamlined entry point for companies, including startups and scaleups. Linked to the AI Factories ecosystem, the Charter will be backed by dedicated EU support to make AI computing facilities affordable for SMEs. Complementary guidance will clarify how universities and public research organisations can grant access under State aid rules. Together, these measures cut fragmentation, lower transaction costs and speed time-to-market.

The proposed European Biotech Act aims to make Europe's health-biotechnology sector more competitive through easier funding, quicker regulatory processes and stronger safeguards. It would support industry, manufacturing and research, especially start-ups and SMEs; facilitate AI, data and digital solutions; simplify rules on clinical trials and cell and gene therapies; and introduce biosecurity measures. The Commission says the Act should help patients gain timelier, broader access to treatments and products. In 2026 it will address the wider biotechnology sector.

EU work is underway to establish a Centre of Expertise on Research Security, investing in the evidence base for policymaking and creating a community of practice. It sits alongside a due-diligence platform in development to help universities choose international partners. The Commission presents these measures as support for open but secure research cooperation, responding to risks including foreign interference, malign influence and misuse.

It will create horizontal, Single-Market-wide conditions to accelerate deployment and diffusion of innovation. The law will (i) simplify and make rules more innovation-friendly (incl. regulatory sandboxes), (ii) unlock IP-backed finance and improve access to EU/national funding, (iii) open research & technology infrastructures to companies, (iv) make public/private procurement more supportive of novel solutions, (v) improve commercialisation of publicly funded R&I (i.e. IP, standardisation, certification), (vi) enable talent attraction/retention (e.g. employee ownership schemes), and (vii) establish EU–Member State coordination of innovation policy, helping to close the EU’s innovation gap.

The Act Act will realise a “fifth freedom” by enabling the free movement of researchers, knowledge and technology across a single EU R&I market, anchored in TFEU Articles 179 and 182(5). It will (1) secure national commitments and new mechanisms to reach the 3% of GDP R&D target; (2) align EU–national investments and priorities around strategic technologies; and (3) upgrade framework conditions—attractive careers and mobility, open science and data access, a stronger legal basis for research infrastructures, and better knowledge valorisation. The Act will safeguard fundamental values, bolster research security, and clarify cooperation with third countries.

The Act will make the Quantum Europe Strategy operational, fixing fragmentation by aligning EU and national programmes around a shared RTI agenda and targets. It sets EU-level governance and extends the Chips Joint Undertaking’s remit to quantum technologies, coordinating investments across EU programmes. It anchors a three-stage pipeline—Discover; Lab-to-fab via pilot lines, design tools and standards; Apply & use in lead sectors, while scaling pan-European infrastructures in quantum computing, secure communication (EuroQCI) and sensing. The Act backs skills and industrialisation, strengthens supply chains. It also drives standardisation and interoperability and fosters talent attraction.