Science diplomacy

Science diplomacy in the Global Approach to Research and Innovation

Science Diplomacy is part of the EU’s priority of leveraging our power and partnerships for a global Europe. The Global Approach to Research and Innovation, the EU’s strategy for international cooperation in research and innovation, advocates that a stronger focus on science and technology in the EU’s foreign and security policies in terms of science diplomacy would help the EU to project soft power and pursue our economic interests and fundamental values more effectively, meeting demand and interest from partner countries and playing to the EU’s strengths as a research and innovation powerhouse.

In its Conclusions on the Global Approach to Research and Innovation, the Council highlighted  the importance of integrating the Global Approach in research and innovation in the EU's external action and called on the Commission and the European External Action Service to develop a European Science Diplomacy Agenda.

A Council recommendation on a European framework for science diplomacy is currently in preparation.

Developing a European Framework for Science Diplomacy

Current Status

Supported by the ERA Forum Sub-Group on the Global Approach and a Steering Team consisting of the main stakeholder communities, the Commission is currently developing a European framework for science diplomacy. 

Following an open call for expressions of interest, the Commission established in 2024 five Science Diplomacy Working Groups – each one co-chaired by a scientist and a diplomat – which tackled the following issues:

1. Using science diplomacy strategically to tackle geopolitical challenges in a fragmented, multipolar world
2. Making European diplomacy more strategic, effective and resilient through scientific evidence and foresight
3. Strengthening science diplomacy in delegations and embassies and fostering the EU’s global science diplomacy outreach
4. Building capacity for European science diplomacy
5. Cross-cutting issues (definition, mission, vision, values, etc.)

The Working Groups developed concrete recommendations for strategic, operational and enabling instruments, which are reflected in the expert report "A European Framework for Science Diplomacy – Recommendations of the EU Science Diplomacy Working Groups", published in February 2025. This report will feed into the preparation of the Council recommendation on a European framework for science diplomacy. 

Following the expert report, a call for evidence was launched on 14 October 2025 to inform the forthcoming Council recommendation.

History

At EU level, the term “science diplomacy” appeared for the first time in a policy document in the 2012 Commission communication “Enhancing and focusing EU international cooperation in research and innovation: A strategic approach”, which stated that science diplomacy will “use international cooperation in research and innovation as an instrument of soft power and a mechanism for improving relations with key countries and regions. Good international relations may, in turn, facilitate effective cooperation in research and innovation”.

This concept was further developed in the Communication “Open Innovation, Open Science, Open to the World: A Vision for Europe” (2016), which stated: “International research and innovation cooperation leading to common standards, scientific exchange and mobility, the sharing of resources and facilities, and scientific advice to diplomats and diplomat scientists should help underpin good governance and policy-making and build mutual understanding and trust”.

In 2017, the European Commission commissioned the study “Tools for an EU Science Diplomacy”  which concluded that science diplomacy efforts in Europe remain largely uncoordinated and therefore called for a EU science diplomacy strategy and related action plan to underpin the Common Foreign and Security Policy.

In the following years the European Commission funded three dedicated research projects under the Horizon 2020 programme, namely Using Science for/in Diplomacy for Addressing Global Challenges (S4D4C), Inventing a Shared Science Diplomacy for Europe (InsSciDE), and European Leadership in Cultural, Science and Innovation Diplomacy (EL-CSID), all of which significantly enhanced our understanding of European science diplomacy, explored options and developed training material as well as position papers such as the Madrid Declaration on Science Diplomacy. This has led to the establishment of the EU Science Diplomacy Alliance, gathering some of the most important academic players in the field. 

Further input was delivered by the Science Diplomacy Task Force of the Strategic Forum for International S&T Cooperation (SFIC), which in early 2020 prepared an Input Paper demanding to “promote a clearer and more strategic role of EU Science Diplomacy”, and suggesting inter alia the development of an EU Science Diplomacy Platform and Roadmap.

Following the adoption of the Global Approach to Research and Innovation in 2021, science diplomacy was discussed for the first time by EU Research Ministers at their meeting in Santander, Spain, on 28 July 2023.

Events

European Science Diplomacy Conferences

Following the 1st European Science Diplomacy Conference that was held on 18-19 December 2023 in Madrid, a 2nd European Science Diplomacy Conference takes place on 17-18 December 2025 in Copenhagen in cooperation with the Danish presidency of the Council of the EU on the topic “Bridging divides in a fragmented world”, providing another stepping stone towards the consolidation of European science diplomacy.

AU-EU Dialogue on Science Diplomacy

As the first in a series of planned science diplomacy engagements with other world regions, the European Commission organised on 22 October 2025 together with the African Union and the South African Department for Science, Technology and Innovation the AU-EU Dialogue on Science Diplomacy. 150 experts from both continents discussed issues including science advice to foreign and security policies / development policies in Africa and Europe, using science diplomacy for trust-building in and between the AU and EU, the role of research and technology infrastructures in AU-EU science diplomacy, and cooperation in training and capacity-building for science diplomacy. As a result of the fruitful discussions the AU-EU Senior Officials meeting decided to add science diplomacy as a separate track to the AU-EU High-level Policy Dialogue on R&I.

Other science diplomacy workshops 

The European Commission is also co-organising and funding workshops to advance science diplomacy. Recent examples include:

• Science diplomacy symposium on Nile River Management, organised with the African Academy of Sciences (October 2024)
• Workshop “Science and Tech Diplomacy: Challenges and opportunities of emerging technologies in foreign relations”, organised with the EU Science Diplomacy Alliance, the Austrian Ministry of European and International Affairs and the Vienna School of International Studies (February 2025)
• Workshop “Science Diplomacy Training: Objectives, Practices, and Recommendations”, organised with the EU Science Diplomacy Alliance and UNESCO (March 2025)
• Workshop “Science Diplomacy in Poland and its role in the European Union”, organised with the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Polish Academy of Sciences (June 2025)

Documents