Independent top advisors call for increased EU investment in research and innovation for the sake of Europe’s future

The High Level Group chaired by Pascal Lamy, President Emeritus of the Jacques Delors Institute brings together 12 leading personalities  from across Europe with a wide range of expertise. The members hold key posts in universities or research organisations, are leaders of industrial giants and dynamic SMEs, serve in high-level policy positions in national or international organisations, and play important roles in civil society organisations.

The Group was tasked in December 2016 to advise the Commission on how to maximise the impact of the EU’s investment in research and innovation.

The report, entitled LAB – FAB – APP: Investing in the European future we want highlights that in the last twenty years, two thirds of economic growth in industrialised countries is attributed to research and innovation. Its recommendations focus on maximising the impact of EU investments in research and innovation in order to increase prosperity and solve our biggest societal challenges.

The Group proposes eleven recommendations:

1. Prioritise research and innovation in EU and national budgets, including a doubling of the budget of the post-2020 EU research and innovation programme
2. Build a true EU innovation policy that creates future markets
3. Educate for the future and invest in people who will make the change
4. Design the EU R&I programme for greater impact
5. Adopt a mission-oriented, impact-focused approach to address global challenges
6. Rationalise the EU funding landscape and achieve synergy with structural funds
7. Simplify further, privilege impact over process
8. Mobilise and involve citizens
9. Better align EU and national R&I investment
10. Make international R&I cooperation a trademark of EU research and innovation
11. Capture and better communicate impact