The European Commission has adopted a New European Innovation Agenda. The initiative aims to reinforce the European startup ecosystem, supporting start-ups in developing and bringing to market new technologies to address the most urgent societal challenges.
By leading the new wave of deep tech innovation, requiring breakthrough research and development activities and large capital investment, Europe will reinforce its central role in shaping the green and digital transitions, by supporting the development of solutions to pressing societal challenges, such as climate change and cyberthreats.
Such innovative solutions will nurture and benefit all sectors –from renewable energy to agri-tech, from construction to mobility and health – thus addressing such issues as food security, reducing energy dependency, improving people’s health, and making European economies more competitive.
Specifically, the Agenda sets out 25 dedicated actions under five flagships:
- Funding scale-ups to mobilize institutional and other private investors in Europe to invest in, and benefit from the scaling of European deep-tech start-ups;
- Enabling innovation through experimentation spaces and public procurement to facilitate innovation through improved framework conditions including experimental approaches to regulation;
- Accelerating and strengthening innovation in European Innovation Ecosystems across the EU to support the creation of regional innovation “valleys” and help Member States and regions direct at least 10 billion euro to concrete interregional innovation projects, including in deep-tech innovation for key EU priorities;
- Fostering, attracting and retaining deep tech talent to ensure the development and flow of essential deep tech talents in and to the European Union, through a series of initiatives including an innovation intern scheme for start-ups and scale-ups, an EU talent pool and a women entrepreneurship and leadership scheme;
- Improving policy making tools for the development and use of robust, comparable data sets and shared definitions (start-up, scale-up) that can inform policies at all levels across the EU.
Innovation policy is a crucial area with significant EU initiatives and investments complemented by the European Research Area (ERA), aimed at building a true European single market for research and innovation.
