The challenging roadmap to design the future of EU’s R&D

The ongoing debate on simplifying and standardising the rules for accessing EU research funding is in an hot phase. ERC president Maria Leptin rejected the Commission’s proposals, while the ERC Scientific Council published its new rules for the evaluation of scientific proposals. In a recent speech on the advancement of the Competitiveness Compass, Mario Draghi emphasised the need for a more proactive approach to priority programmes on critical technologies. He also drew attention to dual-use technologies, an approach combining civil and defence applications which has divided the EU Parliament

The Clean Industrial Deal and the Omnibus package on simplification

The European Commission published the Clean Industrial Deal on 26 February 2025, detailing the strategy that should support the final transition to the new models based on decarbonisation, electrification, innovation and reindustrialisation of the European Union. The first two Omnibus packages of measures aimed to lower energy prices, simplify procedures for companies and improve the InvestEU regulation were also released and will now undergo examination by the EU Parliament and Council

The EU’s Competitiveness Compass and the new EU Biotech Hub

The Competitiveness Compass describes the new European Commission’s political actions to fill the gap with international competitors, support the transition to clean and digital technologies, and reduce supply chains’ dependencies in strategic sectors. Among these are also biotechnologies and more extensively, life sciences.