Industrial doctorates strengthen Europe’s research–industry talent pipelines

The over 50 leading universities of science and technology united within CESAER have today published a report titled ‘Industrial doctorates: strengthening Europe’s research–industry talent pipelines’.

• The full report is available here for download and dissemination (PDF).

“This report shows that industrial doctorates are emerging as a strategic instrument for Europe. They enable universities and industry to work together in a structured way, combining academic excellence with real-world impact and strengthening Europe’s innovation capacity and talent pipelines - exactly what Europe needs. Simplifying and strengthening the industrial doctorate arm of the MSCA could play a significant role in increasing the diffusion and impact of this important tool.”

-- Roberto Zanino, Director of CESAER, Co-Chair of Task Force Learning & Teaching 2024-2025 and Rector's Senior Advisor for International University Networks at Politecnico di Torino

“Our case studies demonstrate the value of industrial doctorates across different national contexts, but they remain underutilised despite their clear impact and potential. As highlighted in the Draghi report on European competitiveness, facilitating links between education, skills and industry is essential. Scaling industrial doctorates requires simpler funding and administrative rules, more compatible regulatory conditions including across countries, and better support for joint supervision and SME participation.”

-- Justyna Lubośna, Director of CESAER, Co-Chair of CESAER Task Force European Higher Education, and Rector’s Representative for International Educational Programs at Gdańsk University of Technology

“While industrial doctorates take different forms across Europe, their benefits are clear: they strengthen collaboration between academia and industry, enhance employability and support knowledge valorisation. Scaling them up at European level will be the next key step.’’

-- Touko Närhi, CESAER Advisor for Benchmark & Higher Education

Drawing on evidence from institutional case studies across Europe and insights from the workshop ‘Industrial doctorates: shaping the future of Europe’s high-skilled workforce’ (22 May 2025), hosted by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim and bringing together universities, industry and policymakers, the report shows how industrial doctorates strengthen research–innovation linkages, enhance collaboration between universities and industry, and improve the employability of doctoral candidates, while maintaining highest academic standards when supported by robust co-supervision and contributing to Europe’s competitiveness, innovation capacity and talent pipelines.

In the report, we highlight four strategic priorities that underpin targeted recommendations to EU institutions, member states and regional authorities, universities of science and technology and other research-performing organisations, and industry, SMEs and other non-academic partners:

• Scale high-quality industrial doctorates through reinforced European and national funding, in particular by strengthening the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) within a significantly reinforced next EU framework programme.
• Simplify and align regulatory and administrative frameworks, especially to lower entry barriers for SMEs and cross-border cooperation.
• Embed industrial doctorates within coherent doctoral governance and research career frameworks, ensuring parity of academic standards while strengthening intersectoral mobility and talent pipelines.
• Ensure clear and balanced intellectual property frameworks, including transparent IP arrangements and publication rules that balance open science principles with legitimate commercial interests in university–industry collaboration.

The report builds on earlier work by CESAER Task Force Innovation ‘Models of engagement for PhDs with non-academic partners’ (October 2024).

For more information, please contact the CESAER Secretariat.