What the Commission is doing
In September 2026, the European Commission adopted the European Innovation Act, to turn Europe’s scientific excellence into industrial leadership.
As a key action under the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy and the Competitiveness Compass for the EU, the proposed Regulation will help innovative ideas developed in Europe move more effectively from research to market and scale across borders, and will give innovators the support they need to grow, invest and lead in the EU while competing globally.
In doing so, it will strengthen the Union’s long-term competitiveness, prosperity and technological sovereignty.
European Innovation Act: Strengthening the single market for innovation
The proposed European Innovation Act will strengthen the Single Market for innovation by tackling two of the most persistent obstacles to commercial success:
- First, it will create a harmonised Union framework for R&D procurement, contributing to legal clarity and critical mass to invest in the development of cutting-edge solutions, stimulate demand for innovation and help new technologies reach the market faster across borders.
- Second, it will develop an EU wide framework for the valuation of intellectual property (IP), fostering IP-backed finance and developing an EU-wide marketplace for commercialising IP assets, especially in deep tech and breakthrough sectors. This will make it easier for innovative companies to secure financing, grow in the Single Market and compete globally.
The proposed European Innovation Act is preceded by a proposal for a Council Recommendation on common principles for the design and operation of regulatory sandboxes across the Union.
Why the European Innovation Act is needed
For too long, structural barriers in the Single Market have slowed the journey from laboratory to market, from start-up to scale-up, and from invention to industrial strength. As a result, Europe generates an impressive amount of high-quality research and innovation, but only a limited share is turned into successful products and services on the market. At the same time, it remains overly dependent on suppliers from outside the Union for buying innovative products and services.
As global competitors move faster and invest more aggressively, Europe must match the ambition of its innovators with equally ambitious action. This is essential to support sustainable economic growth and to strengthen Europe’s strategic autonomy.
To achieve this, the EU needs to do more to support the uptake of innovation. This includes stepping up the exploitation of intellectual property rights and making better use of standardisation and certification to help innovative solutions reach the market more quickly and at greater scale.
There is currently no EU‑wide legislative framework that tackles the main obstacles facing the development, testing and scale‑up of innovative products and services.
Existing EU policies on research and innovation mainly focus on supporting the creation of new knowledge and collaboration and providing funding for research and innovation projects.
They address only part of what is needed to bring results from the lab to the market.
Consultation process and stakeholder input
The European Innovation Act will affect a wide range of actors across the innovation ecosystem. Its preparation was informed by an online consultation and the call for evidence , which closed in October 2025.
The Commission also carried out targeted consultations with innovative companies across the EU, including both large firms and SMEs, as well as universities and other research organisations, research and technology infrastructures, the financial sector, and stakeholders in regulation, standardisation, certification, and public and private procurement.
All contributions have been carefully analysed and taken into account in the development of the European Innovation Act.
