This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Europe could turn more of its scientific discoveries into new technologies, products and businesses by changing the way it funds innovation and supports researchers, according to a new Policy Forum published in Science. The paper, "Enhancing Europe's Competitiveness by Empowering Researchers as Innovators," calls for a more continuous route from fundamental research to commercialization, simpler funding procedures and greater recognition of entrepreneurship within universities.
It argues that persistent institutional and funding barriers prevent scientific excellence from generating its full economic and societal impact. The work is an initiative of INPACT!, a network launched in 2023 that brings together more than 120 scientist-innovators from over 20 countries in the European research area, mainly European Research Council grantees. It combines researchers' direct experience with economic analysis of European funding programs to identify reforms that could strengthen Europe's ability to translate research into innovation.
In Italy, researchers from several institutions contributed to the discussion: Italian Institute of Technology (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia), IMT Lucca, Politecnico di Torino, Politecnico di Milano and Università Bocconi. The analysis focuses on Horizon Europe, the European Union's research and innovation program for 2021–2027. The authors argue that funding remains fragmented and that discoveries with commercial potential can encounter administrative gaps between European Research Council (ERC) Proof of Concept grants, which help researchers explore practical applications, and European Innovation Council (EIC) programs supporting technology development and business growth.
One of the main proposals is to bring ERC Proof of Concept grants under EIC governance, creating a more continuous pathway from scientific discovery to technology development and commercialization. According to the authors, this could reduce repeated evaluations, simplify transitions between programs and make support more predictable for researchers and investors. "Europe has extraordinary scientific talent, but too often we lose momentum between discovery and application.
We need a more continuous pathway that allows promising ideas to move from fundamental research towards technologies, companies and solutions capable of generating economic and societal impact," says Dario Polli, a professor at Politecnico di Milano and one of the lead authors of the Policy Forum. The Policy Forum also calls for stronger support for early-stage, high-risk innovation. Combined annual funding for the EIC Pathfinder and Transition programs is currently approximately €500 million, while their program-management capacity remains limited compared with advanced research agencies in the United States.
The authors recommend reallocating resources toward breakthrough innovation and giving independent program managers greater authority to guide promising projects. "Europe is caught in a middle-technology trap: we specialize in mature industries such as automotive and industrial machinery, while frontier sectors such as AI and biotechnology remain too small. To strengthen Europe's competitiveness and strategic autonomy, we must rebuild the pipeline from scientific discovery to market, fund the best ideas and enable researchers and innovators to turn today's breakthroughs into tomorrow's high-tech industries," says Giorgio Presidente, a researcher at the Institute for European Policymaking at Bocconi University.
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