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.
The European Chips Act will allow the EU to invest in the development and production of next generation semiconductors and strengthen our strategic autonomy as the European market for semiconductors is currently 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
Calls for proposal in industrial research are mainly represented in cluster 4 of the programme, Digital, Industry and Space
The EU Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME) will run from 2014 to 2020
An intergovernmental organisation for market-driven industrial research and development aiming to boost the productivity and competitiveness of European industries
European regional development fund, European social fund, Cohesion fund, European agricultural fund for rural development, European maritime and fisheries fund
European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR)
Programme managed by the Commission, supporting research in the coal and steel sectors in Europe.
Collaboration and jobs
Researcher jobs in related fields
The EEN provides support to SMEs
Find partners for open calls for proposal and view profiles of organisations that have previously received funding through the funding and tenders portal
EIT manufacturing is an innovation community within the EIT that connects the leading manufacturing actors in Europe
The European intellectual property helpdesk offers free of charge, first-line support on IP rights matters
This partnering tool supports potential applicants for NMBP Work Program 2018-2020 in finding partners and building a consortium for a project proposal
This programme helps provide aspiring European entrepreneurs with the skills necessary to start and successfully run a small business
Projects and results
The Commission's primary portal for results of EU-funded research projects
Stories of particularly successful EU-funded research projects
Access to real-time programme data with the ability to filter by country, region, theme and more
Commission initiative to identify high potential innovations and innovators in EU-funded research and innovation framework programmes
Success stories
Innovative technology developed by the EU-funded ETEKINA project recycles factory heat, lowering environmental impact and running costs.
- Project locations
- Italy, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Poland, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom
Scientific publications, tools and databases
A scoreboard that monitors and ranks countries based on their 4 transitions to fair and prosperous sustainability
Single point of access to open data produced by the EU institutions - all data free to use for commercial and non-commercial purposes
You can access all scientific publications from Horizon 2020 via OpenAIRE
Advanced materials are engineered materials with innovative properties and functionalities.
Latest
Research and innovation news alert: The first day features the opening ceremony at 14:00 CET, a journey through the 40-year-old history of the EU R&I framework programme and discussions about its future, and culminates with the announcement of the Women Innovators Prize Ceremony at 17:00 CET.
Research and innovation news alert: Both codes of practice provide guidance for researchers and innovators on how to actively engage with other players to jointly produce and valorise knowledge for the benefit of the economy and society.
Today, the Commission has proposed an encompassing strategy to move towards EU industrial leadership in advanced materials, a key enabling technology highly relevant for the twin green and digital transition.
Europe's industry significantly increased its investment in research and development in 2022, according to the 2023 edition of the EU Industrial Research & Development (R&D) Investment Scoreboard.
The Commission is today opening the Innovation Fund's 2023 call for proposals with a record budget of €4 billion to support the deployment of innovative decarbonisation technologies.