Europe faces enormous challenges. A larger and more long-term research and innovation funding program is essential for Europe to address the growing skills shortage and other societal challenges, as well as to strengthen the Union’s global competitiveness.
Unifi considers it extremely important that the future framework program remains an independent R&D funding program. If the framework program is included in a broader competitiveness fund (European Competitiveness Fund), it threatens to dilute the significance of the framework program as an enabler of high-quality and innovative research based on quality and competition. This would have wide-ranging negative effects. Without high-quality and competitive research, it is not possible to build Europe’s competitiveness in the long term. The framework program, in its current form, is well-established and well-known, which is a significant advantage in attracting talent to Europe and building cooperation. It is a decisive competitive advantage for Europe and Finland that the framework program unites expertise and experts across national borders. This must be cherished.
A broad research and knowledge base is a competitive advantage and a resilience factor for Europe. The framework program should remain broad in its themes and should increasingly be based on research instruments that create new knowledge.
Unifi also emphasizes that the budget for the research framework program needs massive additional investments. The funding should be doubled to a total of 200 billion euros.
Finland is a net beneficiary in the current Horizon Europe framework program. Universities are strongly integrated into the framework programs: they have successfully secured over 40% of the funding that has come to Finland from the ongoing framework program. If the proposal to merge the research framework program with the competitiveness fund is realized, Finland’s share may decrease. This would weaken Finland’s competitiveness and knowledge base.
It is also important that the ERC (European Research Council) continues to be independent and autonomous. Europe must also strengthen the conditions for building creative and cross-sectoral research collaboration across technology readiness levels.
Unifi believes that Europe needs a broad and high-quality research and knowledge base for building security in a tense geopolitical situation. However, dual-use research should not lower the quality criteria of framework program funding, nor should it unnecessarily restrict the freedom of science and research or international cooperation. Dual-use opportunities should be seen more as a result of high-level research rather than a strategic pre-selection. Dual-use and defense research should continue to be funded from their own programs. Continuity between programs should, however, be developed.
UNIFI’s key messages for the preparation of the next EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10)
The future Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10) must have an ambitious budget. UNIFI supports doubling Framework Programme funding to EUR 200 billion and turning the programme into an international lodestar of RDI. Framework Programme funding should remain grant based as well as be fully targeted at R&D and protected from transfers to different programme parts and new priorities. A research and innovation funding programme with a larger scale and long-term approach is essential in order to respond to the growing shortage of highly skilled experts in Europe and to strengthen the Union’s global competitiveness and ability to respond to societal challenges.
The common denominator of all actions under the forthcoming Framework Programme should be excellence. The evaluation of proposals and implementation of funded projects must be transparent and responsible. Promoting open science as well as respecting the research integrity, ethics and freedom of scientific research should remain the cross-cutting principles of the Framework Programme.
The EU’s public R&D investments must be targeted at groundbreaking and innovative research with broad positive externalities. The preconditions for scientific excellence, attractiveness of researchers’ careers, and breakthroughs in research and technology must be promoted with funding designated for these purposes. Funding for successful ERC, MSCA, EIC Pathfinder and research infrastructure activities intended for this should be strengthened in FP10. In addition, the autonomous role of the Scientific Council governing the ERC must be safeguarded also in the future.
High-quality scientific research and applying it in order to create new and radical innovations should be more prominent across all pillars of the FP10, not only in Pillar 1. In addition to politically guided top-down priorities, all pillars of the Framework Programme should include bottom-up calls that enable identifying new opportunities. In the forthcoming Framework Programme, attention should be focused on ensuring that the programme will support European collaborative projects in a balanced manner at all technology readiness levels (TRL), including the lower levels of 1 to 4 TRL.
Ensuring continuity in the Framework Programme’s structure and streamlining financial instruments are key objectives for developing FP10. UNIFI finds the three-pillar structure of the current Horizon Europe programme a good starting point for planning the forthcoming programme. The Framework Programme must provide balanced support for the entire RDI continuum. Rather than being separate entities, basic research, applied research, development and innovation activites are part of continuous and interlinked processes.
In FP10, the range of financial instruments must be simplified and developed, ensuring that they will serve high-quality R&I and are applicant-friendly. Particular attention should be paid to:
European partnerships
UNIFI supports the basic principle of strengthening strategic-level thematic cooperation and leveraging funding of the Horizon Europe Pillar 2 public-private/public-public partnerships (European Partnerships). However, the landscape of partnerships and their varying implementation models should be simplified further. The necessity of several different partnership models should be evaluated critically, and the rules for participation harmonised and made more transparent. In particular, the regulation of the co-financed partnerships is considered unclear. Under the current Framework Programme, the number of partnerships has been reduced by merging thematic areas. While this is effective in boosting synergies and cooperation, it has increased the administrative burden.
Missions
Missions are a policy instrument, above all. With lacking the R&I element, universities have found the instrument difficult to grasp. The implementation of the missions has diverted from the original concept. Their implementation in its current form should be reviewed, and the part funded under the Framework Programme should be redirected to support solely R&I cooperation. In order to achieve the objectives, synergies between the missions and other EU programmes are needed. In the future, actions related to the missions which do not have a clear R&I focus should be funded under other EU programmes better suited for this purpose.
Widening
Widening actions in their current form should not be extended under the Framework Programme, as they have not effectively increased R&I capacity. Instead of focusing on capacity building, these measures should prioritize R&I cooperation between widening and non-widening countries. Additionally, synergies with other EU programmes available in widening countries need further development to promote essential R&I structures, reduce disparities, and enhance overall European competitiveness.
The EU must continue working at the international level in order to solve European and globalchallenges. The forthcoming Framework Programme should be kept open to global cooperation, and participation should only be limited for particularly weighty reasons. In research-led collaborativeprojects, calls for proposals should continue to be open to cooperation with third countries, taking the perspectives of research security into account. Association agreements aiming to streamline participation in the programme with non-EU countries which share common principles are an effective way of increasing international cooperation.An attempt should be made to diversify them and to bring them into force without undue delay from the very start of the programming period.
UNIFI stresses that the different options and their impacts on RDI support and funding for dual-use purposes should be assessed carefully. Dual-use research must not lower the excellence criteria for the Framework Programme funding or unnecessarily restrict the freedom of science and research or international cooperation. Dual-use opportunities should be seen a consequence of high-quality research rather than a strategic pre-selection or an evaluation criterion.
UNIFI welcomes increasing funding for defence RDI in a programme earmarked for this purpose along the lines of the current European Defence Fund or other similar arrangement. While it is important to strengthen synergies between the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation and the Defence Fund, their allocations in the EU’s multiannual financial framework must be kept separate due to the different objectives of civil and defence research.
Knowledge and skills are crucial for the EU’s success. UNIFI supports increasing future EU funding to enhance Europe’s competitiveness. UNIFI emphasizes that the various programmes supporting thecompetitiveness should not be merged into a single large entity. Instead, synergies between theseprogrammes should be strengthened. Programmes like Digital Europe, Health4Europe, and the European Defence Fund should be adjusted to focus more on RDI. Additionally, the quality criteria for EU programme funding should be harmonized, following the example of the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. This approach will facilitate the seamless development and commercialization of research-driven technologies and solutions funded by the Framework Programme through appropriate programmes and instruments.
Open Unifi position paper in pdf: Unifi FP10 key messages
Unifi published its main messages for the preparation of the 10th Framework Programme in autumn 2024. Since then, reports by Draghi, Letta, and Heitor have proposed various actions and objectives, and Unifi has formulated detailed messages to respond to these current proposals.
Familiarise with Unifi’s detailed messages:
Further information: Unifi Executive Director Heikki Holopainen, p. +358 (0)400 639331