Why the EU supports industrial research and innovation
Strategy and policy
Research and innovation in industrial key enabling technologies is essential to create wellbeing, prosperity and jobs across Europe within the means of our planet. That requires new policy action to create value from research and innovation and accelerate the green and digital transformation of industry, strengthening its resilience and its base in Europe.
Industry 5.0 recognises the power of industry to achieve societal goals by making production respect the boundaries of our planet and placing the wellbeing of the industry worker at the centre of the production process.
Research and innovation is at the heart of the renewed European Industrial Strategy, which paves the way to the twin green and digital transitions of EU industry. To accelerate theses transitions, the Commission proposes co-created transition pathways, including developing ERA Industrial Technology Roadmaps and investing in research and innovation through Horizon Europe Partnerships.
Public research and innovation investments will trigger private investments, which are monitored through the yearly Industrial Research and Development Scoreboard.
The European Commission and EU countries are jointly developing the EU valorisation policy through the ERA Forum for transition and engaging all stakeholders through the EU Knowledge Valorisation Platform. This will strengthen innovation ecosystems for knowledge circulation ensuring that research and innovation results have a positive impact on society.
Advanced materials manifesto and Chips Act
The Manifesto on Advanced Materials is an initiative taken by a group of high level representatives from industries, research organisations, universities and designers presented to Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth on 7 February 2022. The views expressed in the publication are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission
The Manifesto invites the Commission and other stakeholders to establish a strategic roadmap, to launch an agile and inclusive governance for research and innovation on advanced materials and to translate it into a novel European strategic research and innovation agenda for the next generation of advanced materials.
The European Chips Act will allow the EU to invest in the development and production of next generation semiconductors and strengthen European strategic autonomy as currently the European market for semiconductors is heavily dependent on third-country suppliers
Commission priorities
Industrial research and innovation has a direct impact on 3 of the 6 European Commission priorities: A European Green Deal, An Economy that works for People, A Europe fit for the digital age.
Read more about what we do for the European Commission's priorities.
Funding opportunities
Horizon Europe
Calls for proposal in industrial research are mainly represented in cluster 4 of the programme, Digital, Industry and Space
COSME
The EU Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME) will run from 2014 to 2020
EUREKA
An intergovernmental organisation for market-driven industrial research and development aiming to boost the productivity and competitiveness of European industries
European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF)
European regional development fund, European social fund, Cohesion fund, European agricultural fund for rural development, European maritime and fisheries fund
Metrology Research
European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR)
Research Fund for Coal and Steel
Programme managed by the Commission, supporting research in the coal and steel sectors in Europe.
Collaboration and jobs
Jobs (EURAXESS)
Researcher jobs in related fields
Enterprise Europe Network
The EEN provides support to SMEs
Find project partners
Find partners for open calls for proposal and view profiles of organisations that have previously received funding through the funding and tenders portal
European Institute of Innovation and Technology manufacturing
EIT manufacturing is an innovation community within the EIT that connects the leading manufacturing actors in Europe
European IP Helpdesk
The European intellectual property helpdesk offers free of charge, first-line support on IP rights matters
Find project partners in your specific area
This partnering tool supports potential applicants for NMBP Work Program 2018-2020 in finding partners and building a consortium for a project proposal
Erasmus for young entrepreneurs
This programme helps provide aspiring European entrepreneurs with the skills necessary to start and successfully run a small business
Projects and results
Research project database (CORDIS)
The Commission's primary portal for results of EU-funded research projects
Project success stories
Stories of particularly successful EU-funded research projects
Horizon 2020 dashboard
Access to real-time programme data with the ability to filter by country, region, theme and more
Innovation Radar
Commission initiative to identify high potential innovations and innovators in EU-funded research and innovation framework programmes
Scientific publications, tools and databases
Transitions Performance Index
A scoreboard that monitors and ranks countries based on their 4 transitions to fair and prosperous sustainability
EU Open Data Portal
Single point of access to open data produced by the EU institutions - all data free to use for commercial and non-commercial purposes
OpenAIRE
You can access all scientific publications from Horizon 2020 via OpenAIRE
Infographic for the full policy report of our second ERA roadmap for circular technologies in textile, construction and energy-intensive industries.
The transition to more sustainable and digital industries offers major opportunities, but requires both public and private investment, and a strong pipeline of research and innovation to develop the needed solutions. We need a renewed partnership with industry, national and regional authorities...
Latest
EU roadmap highlights key industrial technologies for the textile, construction and energy-intensive industries to become more circular
Research and innovation news alert: The report identifies key circular technologies and innovation needs for the textile, construction and energy-intensive industries.
Industrial investments in research and development in the EU again on the rise
The 2022 edition of the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, published by the Commission today, shows that Europe's industry is back on track in research and development investments with an increase of 8.9% in 2021 compared to the -2.2 % pandemic-related dip in 2020.
Recommendation for safe and sustainable chemicals published
Research and innovation news alert: Today, the Commission adopted a recommendation and its annex to promote research and innovation for safer and more sustainable chemicals and materials as an important step to increase the protection of human health and the environment against hazardous substances.
Info-days for Horizon Europe Cluster 4 “Digital, Industry and Space” to take place on 12-14 December 2022
The European Commission will present the 2023 calls of the Horizon Europe Cluster 4 Work Programme 2023-2024, in an online event, organised by HaDEA
Guidance for safe and sustainable chemicals and materials published
Research and innovation news alert: Today the European Commission published a Strategic Research and Innovation Plan (SRIP) to accelerate the shift to safe and sustainable chemicals and materials.