The paper was published in the context of the current discussions on the next Multiannual Financial Framework in Council. EARTO stresses that Europe needs a future-oriented budget that will enable the EU to deliver on its ambitions, and that European RD&I-related policies post-2020 will be essential to build a prosperous, safe, inclusive and sustainable future for the next generations. The set of recommendations by EARTO and its members comprises the following:

1. Boost public investments in RD&I as key driver of prosperous and sustainable growth, recognising that Europe’s technological capabilities will be the decisive strategic factor to build Europe’s future. Concrete and ambitious targets of raising RD&I investments aiming to deliver impact for society need to be set at EU, national and regional levels. Effective complementarity and practical synergies between EU funded programmes should also be ensured.
2. Foster cross-border RD&I collaboration as the solution to jointly face the global societal & industrial challenges of today, especially through the pillar II of Horizon Europe. This includes ensuring funding for medium-term strategic pre-competitive technology development and supporting the continuity of public-private partnerships, both essential to turn promising basic research results into technologies with industrial maturity.
3. Support a European RD&I ecosystem approach along strategic value chains, boosting technology co-creation and (large & small) industry’s uptake of innovative products and services. For this, the development and scaling-up of key enabling technologies is essential, for both breakthrough and incremental innovation, in all industrial sectors (not only digital). This will require the set-up of an ambitious EU strategy on technology infrastructures, targeted support to SMEs, and the creation of deep-tech start-ups in Europe (incl. with the European Innovation Council’s support).
4. Ensure the right framework conditions to stimulate knowledge and technology co-creation in Europe and prevent the creation of unwanted regulatory barriers hampering European innovation capacity. Taking into account the specificities of the RD&I sector in the revised EU state aid rules for RD&I will be key. In addition, a balanced approach needs to be fostered between the EU Open Science and the Intellectual Property policies, focusing on the optimum dissemination and exploitation of research results.

For more information, read the full EARTO Recommendations for European RD&I Policy Post-2020.

original source: EARTO publishes recommendations for EU R&I policy post-2020 - ERA Portal Austria