Recommendations on upcoming R&I-Initiatives
August 1, 2025
European Innovation Act
The European Innovation Act is an important initiative to strengthen Europe’s innovation capabilities and sustainably secure the competitiveness of the European economy. It is crucial that the Act creates better conditions for genuine innovation and provides a reliable, business-friendly framework. In light of the further increasing innovation gap between Europe and its international partners and competitors, as well as ongoing geopolitical challenges, the European Innovation Act must make a tangible contribution to the development of a dynamic innovation and investment ecosystem in Europe
From the industry's perspective, it is essential to systematically address key growth barriers. These include reducing bureaucracy, bridging the innovation gap, improving access to financing – particularly venture capital – attracting international talent, expanding high-performance infrastructures, lowering high energy costs, and improving the taxation of corporates. Existing initiatives, such as the Omnibus initiative, should be leveraged to systematically remove bureaucratic hurdles and streamline and shorten administrative processes. We recommend that the European Commission develops an innovation cost assessment that is included in any regulation roll-out. The assessment should provide evidence that the regulatory costs do not surpass the costs-benefit of developing a certain technology such as AI chips. When implementing such an assessment, it must be ensured that this does not lead to more bureaucracy and less agility for companies.
The European Innovation Act should be closely aligned with all relevant acts, strategies and programmes and must not include additional reporting obligations. It should cover the entire innovation chain, from lab to fab and from Start-ups to large innovative enterprises. Ambitious yet achievable goals must be set to provide clear guidance. Collaboration between Start-ups and established companies creates valuable opportunities for knowledge sharing, market access, and resource pooling. The European Commission should find a balance between appropriate support for such partnerships and over-dependency.
Emphasis should be placed on the promotion of key technologies and ensure adequate funding The definition of the key technologies as well as their prioritizing should be engaged in close discussion with respective stakeholders from academia and industry in a transparent and accessible way. The Act must demonstrate the courage to identify technologies and core areas in which Europe can cement its
Lukas Martin | Digitalisation and Innovation | T: +3227921017 | l.martin@bdi.eu | www.bdi.eu
global leadership, while involving industry in those processes and must be designed to bring general improvements for innovation Fast-track procedures for promising innovations in key areas – whether they are breakthrough or incremental – should be established which are more strongly supported in commercialisation by simplified processes and regulations.
European Research Area Act
The initiative to strengthen the research area through a separate act and to focus on a fifth pillar of freedom for more “movement of researchers, scientific knowledge and technology” is welcomed The ERA Act must build on the momentum to drive and sustain innovation in Europe and be seen as an integral part of the existing European Research Area In any case it should support the exchange of researchers not only between countries but also from academia to industrial research by less bureaucratic hurdles and more flexibility in adaption Academic workforce, including teachers and technical personnel, must be supported to achieve more skills transfer schemes.
National and regional research initiatives must be better coordinated with EU programmes, strategies, acts, and initiatives The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions need to be updated and opened to be useable to a broader range of researchers working in industry. Better alignment with ERASMUS should be discussed. The accessibility of the programmes for industry partners should be improved by opening the conditions.
European strategy on research and technology infrastructures
A functioning European research and technology infrastructure network for academia and industry should be promoted in order to achieve better coordination of the scientific infrastructure of research, the technology infrastructure of research organisations and the industrial infrastructure The aim should be to improve the mutual accessibility of these three separate infrastructures, to keep an eye on the entire development chain and lifecycle and to establish joint risk minimisation in the technology maturation process
A European Strategy for AI in science – paving the way for a European AI Research Council
With the AI Act and the numerous follow-up acts as well as the establishment of the EU AI Office, there are already too many unanswered questions surrounding AI on the table. A consistent and swift, legally compliant interpretation of the AI Act with an AI Office that quickly resolves practical day-to-day application issues is the goal – but not another strategy. In addition to an already established and wellpositioned European Research Council (ERC), there is no need for further councils on individual topics. Streamlining the bureaucracy must go hand in hand with streamlining the countless advisory bodies and councils. In addition, there is already a Scientific Panel in the AI Office, which is intended to fulfil a similar function and whose establishment is already facing resource-related time delays
Existing Councils and Offices must be able to provide science with better infrastructure for AI. It is essential to consistently advance the development and expansion of robust computing capacities while ensuring access to high-quality data. Further, researchers must be granted access to AI (Giga)Factories to foster innovation and collaboration for collaborative projects between research and industry
(especially SMEs). The AI (Giga)Factories must encourage this cooperation by being open and easily accessible for science as well as industry, contribute to the mobility of knowledge and/or researchers within the ERA, increase the use of intellectual potential throughout Europe, and contribute to the dissemination and optimization of the results for further research, technological development and demonstration. Additionally, it must be ensured that AI Gigafactories can offer services at competitive prices to be truly successful and thus become genuine competitors to hyperscalers.
To maintain Europe's competitiveness, it is important that all players involved in innovation conduct research using the latest technology and trends. When introducing a strategy for AI in science, the promotion of academic-industrial partnerships regarding AI and the transfer of technology and knowledge must also be considered. Instead of many isolated solutions, a European common platform or marketplace should emerge where computing power, data spaces, and foundational models are provided and shared voluntarily. This could be supported by a one-stop-shop solution, for instance inspired by the European AI on demand platform (DeployAI). Here, the European Commission should bundle and bring together initial activities through targeted project funding.
Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI)
Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) should be expanded to all forms of innovation (incremental and disruptive) that could effectively push Europe to the frontier in strategically important sectors. To effectively address the crucial areas for the technological transition, we strongly advocate for broadening the IPCEIs scope of application to include essential priorities such as:
• Advanced and innovative materials or processed raw materials and their low carbon/circular/sustainable future
• Hydrogen market-ramp-up
• Scaling up of large offshore wind turbine production
• Software-defined, connected and automated vehicle technology, key components for electromobility in the automotive sector
• Advanced semiconductor technologies
• Biotechnology and biomanufacturing
• Space technologies concentrating on the development of green and next-generation propulsion systems for launchers and satellites, a secure and sovereign European satellite communication system, and dual-use satellite technologies
• Aerospace technologies.
A more comprehensive approach is vital to maintain Europe’s competitiveness in this fast-innovative fields and to secure its leadership. With targeted reform, IPCEIs can accelerate innovation and play a greater role as catalyst of private investment into the EU. To ensure that IPCEI funding can play a crucial role in decision-making on whether to invest in Europe or elsewhere, we recommend:
• A transparent emergence of new IPCEIs through the participation of industry associations in the Joint European Forum for IPCEI.
• A condensed design process phase in a realistic time frame in line with typical company approval processes
• A clear and standardised application process with transparent and clear selection criteria and objectives, as well as a reliable timeline of 8 to 12 months from submission to project start.
• Focussing on the application process on the essential aspects of the project, including limiting the number of pages, by reducing the level of detail and plausibility accuracy
• Avoid a double track (EU and national) application process by setting a clear EU framework for IPCEIs
• To adjust the scope of the selection process depending on the funding amount of the project, for example to cope with smaller projects
• Applying the definition of “first-of-a-kind” as applied in the EU Chips Act, to allow industry to catch up in areas, where other regions may have taken the lead.
• Better alignment with market practices by amending eligibility criteria to incentivize entrepreneurial success and allowing early project starts at own risk in all member states.
• Allowing agility in the implementation through flexible design to respond to unforeseen events and technological developments Significant changes during the project must be treated pragmatically and approved more quickly
• The creation of legal certainty and avoidance of uncertainties through clear and reliable funding commitments. Clawback clauses must be carefully designed to stimulate, not hinder investment
• Generally, applications should be manageable without the support of a consultancy
• A closer look on differences in respective industries (e.g. Space or Aerospace)
According to the accessibility of EIB loans, the application efforts and the subsequent reporting of IPCEI should stay manageable. In addition to the above, the European Commission should strengthen the link between industry-led precompetitive R&I projects under the Research and Innovation Framework Programme and IPCEI’s, as well as sector specific approaches such as the EU Chips Act and EU Innovation Fund. Targeted pre-competitive and industry-led joint research, linked with R&D OPEX and CAPEX support can fast-track European innovation cycles and strengthen our ability to compete on a level-playing field.
Imprint
Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie e.V. (BDI)
Breite Straße 29, 10178 Berlin www.bdi.eu
T: +49 30 2028-0
German Lobbyregister Number R000534
Editorial
Lukas Martin
Senior Manager Digitalisation and Innovation
T: +3227921017
L.Martin@bdi.eu
BDI Document number: D 2103