Leuven, 25 February 2026
CESAER today publishes a joint statement on the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF), together with the Coimbra Group, the European University Association (EUA), EU-LIFE, The Guild, LERU and YERUN.
Orla Feely, President of CESAER and President of University College Dublin said:
“As the Draghi report concluded, Europe must first and foremost close the global innovation gap in advanced technologies. This is the enabling condition for everything else, and it demands a laser-sharp focus at European scale. We stand ready to work with the European Commission and co-legislators to make the FP10–ECF interface fully operational, so excellence-driven collaborative research and innovation in FP10 connects seamlessly to the ECF’s role in the accelerated development of new technologies in strategic sectors along the innovation journey.”
Tim Bedford, Vice-President of CESAER, Co-Chair of CESAER Task Force Innovation and Associate Principal for Research and Innovation at the University of Strathclyde emphasised:
“The urgency is real—and that’s exactly why this is an opportunity. The interface must reflect the non-linear nature of technological innovation and provide faster, predictable support for earlier-stage breakthroughs that close strategic gaps and strengthen Europe’s competitive edge. Drawing on decades of experience across leading universities of science and technology at the forefront of advanced technologies, we are ready to help design pathways and instruments that reduce friction and shorten time-to-impact —driving competitiveness and delivering new economic value across Europe.
Lisa Ericsson, Co-Chair of CESAER Task Force Innovation, Head of KTH Innovation & CEO of KTH Ventures added:
“Europe already has some world-leading innovation ecosystems often anchored in universities of science and technology, and CESAER Members are at the heart of many of them. We host some of Europe’s most dynamic start-up communities, industry–academia platforms and deep-tech pipelines and are ready to further scale our contribution. With a well-designed European Competitiveness Fund that backs these ecosystems and enables smart risk-taking, Europe can accelerate the journey from excellent research to investable ventures, industrial capability and real-world impact.”
Further details
Building on our joint work on FP10, the statement sets out a practical model for connecting FP10 and the European Competitiveness Fund through clear, operational interfaces. The objective is straightforward: safeguard FP10 as a strong, autonomous framework programme for research and innovation while ensuring that Europe’s strongest research and innovation results can move rapidly into accelerated technological development, deployment and uptake.
The next phase of negotiations on the EU’s long-term budget 2028–2034 is decisive. Europe will not meet its competitiveness ambitions without a funding architecture that works in practice. This means designing interfaces that are predictable for beneficiaries, fast enough to matter and aligned with how innovation ecosystems for advanced technologies actually function across sectors and borders.
From CESAER’s perspective, the ECF’s greatest added value will be to strengthen Europe’s capacity to scale advanced technologies, reinforce cross-border innovation ecosystems and invest in the talent pipelines that underpin long-term competitiveness. Universities of science and technology are central actors in this system, operating across the full knowledge value chain and connecting research, education, industry and society.
At the same time, the statement strengthens the case for both programmes in the 2028–2034 budget negotiations: by showing clear mechanisms to translate excellent research into deployment and economic competitiveness, it makes it easier for universities to engage with relevant ECF instruments and reinforces the argument for a strong FP10 as the essential engine of bottom-up research and early-stage innovation. In other words, credible connectivity between FP10 and the ECF protects FP10’s autonomy while demonstrating how investment in frontier research also contributes to technological leadership and long-term competitiveness.
We call on the European Commission, the European Parliament and member states to ensure that the final design of FP10 and the ECF delivers both autonomy and connectivity: distinct programmes with clear mandates, linked through effective pathways that reduce fragmentation and accelerate impact. With the right choices now, Europe can turn its position as a scientific powerhouse into technological leadership and global competitiveness.
We stand ready to do the work with the European institutions and member states to refine and operationalise this approach so that Europe’s ambitions in being a global leader in advanced technologies are matched by delivery capacity.
For more information, please contact the CESAER Secretariat.
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