Where the Stack Breaks
Summer Meeting 2026
- SUMMER MEETING 2026
- Brussels
- 27–28 May 2026
About the event
The INESC Brussels HUB Summer Meeting 2026 is the second major meeting in a series of annual policy dialogue events hosted by the INESC Brussels HUB in Brussels. Building on the Winter Meeting 2026 (Coimbra, January), which diagnosed governance fragmentation in Europe’s R&I system, the Summer Meeting turns the lens onto the technology development process itself: where does Europe’s technology stack break, and what would it take to fix it?
The meeting is anchored in the FP10–European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) continuum, the centrepiece of the next Multiannual Financial Framework (2028–2034), and asks a direct question: is the European capability system, from frontier research through demonstration, industrial integration, and market deployment, engineered for progression? Across four technology domains, the meeting
brings together policymakers, researchers, RTOs, industry, and investors to diagnose where the stack breaks and what must change.
INESC Brussels HUB
Lunch-to-Lunch Format
Venue: SQUARE Brussels Meeting Centre
Public Conference
Organisers & Partners
Programme Overview
Detailed programme
Programme structure confirmed — speaker invitations currently in progress. Speakers will be announced on this page as confirmations are received.
Day 1 Morning — Closed-door Strategic Roundtable
27 May · By invitation only · Chatham House Rules
The closed morning session brings together approximately 40 senior participants, EC officials, INESC institute leaders, European RTOs, invited MEPs, and Portuguese government representatives, for a structured diagnostic roundtable. Findings inform the afternoon's public conference. Details are confidential; the programme below is for internal reference.
| 09:00 |
Welcome and framing Inês Lynce - Chair, INESC Brussels HUB, President of INESC ID, Lisbon João Claro - Vice-Chair, INESC Brussels HUB, President and CEO of INESC TEC, Porto |
| 09:15 |
Analytical anchoring — European technology capability system Jakob Edler - Executive Director, Fraunhofer ISI & Professor, University of Manchester |
| EC POLICY ARCHITECTURE — Three DG perspectives 09:40–10:25 | |
| 09:40 |
FP10 and the knowledge-to-capability challenge Marc Lemaître - Director General, DG RTD, European Commission |
| 10:00 |
ECF design and the high-TRL stack Maive Rute - Deputy Director General, DG GROW, European Commission |
| 10:18 |
The cohesion and territorial dimension Hugo Sobral - Deputy Director General, DG REGIO, European Commission |
| NATIONAL LIVE CASE — Portugal's AI² and the continuum 10:35–11:15 | |
| 10:35 |
AI² and Portugal's national R&I priorities Fernando Alexandre - Minister of Education, Science and Innovation Confirmed |
| 10:50 |
Structural funds as a stack enabler Alexandra Vilela - President, COMPETE 2030 |
| 11:05 |
Demand formation and industrial integration Duarte Rodrigues - Vice-President, ADC - Agência para o Desenvolvimento e Coesão |
| STRUCTURED ROUNDTABLE — Moderation: João Claro 11:20–12:30 | |
| 12:50 | Synthesis and closing remarks |
| 13:00 | End of closed session - Lunch and transfer |
Programme structure confirmed — speaker invitations currently in progress. Speakers will be announced on this page as confirmations are received.
Day 1 Afternoon — High-Level Public Conference
27 May · Open registration · 150+ participants
| GEOPOLITICAL OPENING — Roundtable 14:00–15:00 | |
| 14:00 |
Europe in Global Technology Competition: US, China and the Competitiveness Gap
Dan Wang / alternative - Expert on China's technology strategy Dimitri Lorenzani - Head of Unit, R&D Strategy, DG CNECT, European Commission Zach Meyers – CERRE, EU digital sovereignty and economic competitiveness 60-minute structured roundtable · no individual time slots · moderator TBC |
| 15:00 | Coffee break |
| PHASE I — Policy Framing 15:15–15:45 | |
| 15:15 |
The competitiveness agenda: ECF and Europe's technology challenge Alexandr Hobza, Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Séjourné (DG GROW) |
| 15:30 |
The FP10–ECF design: continuity and coherence of the continuum Andreas Schwarz, Cabinet of Commissioner Zaharieva (DG RTD) |
| PHASE II — Political Architecture 15:45–16:30 | |
| 15:45 |
The Parliamentary perspective René Repasi, Member of the European Parliament |
| 16:00 |
A Member State perspective Fernando Alexandre, Minister of Education, Science and Innovation, Portugal |
| 16:15 |
The Committee of the Regions perspective Kata Tutto, President, European Committee of the Regions |
| 16:30 | Coffee break |
| PHASE III — Analytical Bridge 16:45–17:45 | |
| 16:45 |
Where the stack breaks — Evidence from across Europe (panel of five) Simon Pickard, Network Director, Science|Business - Moderator JRC representative - Technology breakpoints across domains João Claro - INESC TEC - Clean transition dimension Silvia Lenaerts - Rector, TU Eindhoven - Digital dimension Sofie Carsten Nielsen - European Biosolutions Coalition - Bio-health dimension |
| EVENING PROGRAMME 19:30 | |
| 19:30 |
Conference Dinner & Keynote Venue - TBC Dinner keynote - TBC (options under consideration) Per invitation only |
Programme structure confirmed — speaker invitations currently in progress. Speakers will be announced on this page as confirmations are received.
Day 2 Morning — Parallel Strategic Technology Windows
28 May · All sessions 09:00–13:00 simultaneously
Four parallel sessions using the same methodology: Firestarter Panel (09:15) → World Café (10:45) → Rapporteur Synthesis (12:15). All windows address the same five diagnostic questions.
| Strategic Technology Windows — Parallel Tracks | |
|
W1 - Clean Industrial Stack Clean Transition & Industrial Decarbonisation Co-organiser: Made in Europe Partnership From green hydrogen to industrial heat and energy storage: where does Europe's ability to scale clean technologies break down? |
W2 - Digital & Compute Stack Digital Leadership & Compute Infrastructure Co-organiser: ADRA - AI, Data & Robotics Where does Europe's digital stack break in AI, semiconductors, cloud, and platform dynamics? |
|
W3 - Health Tech Stack Health Innovation & Biotechnology Co-organiser: Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) Clinical trials, regulatory approvals, and reimbursement barriers. Where does the health innovation journey break? |
W4 - Security & Resilience Stack Security · Defence · Resilience Co-organiser: EDRIN - European Defence R&I Network Dual-use technologies, defence systems integration, and space: NATO/EU procurement and long capability cycles. |
| SYNTHESIS PLENARY — All windows converge 12:45–13:00 | |
| 12:45 | Four rapporteur reports — cross-domain synthesis All session findings consolidated for plenary discussion. |
| 13:00 | Networking lunch |
For further information: Ricardo Migueis, Head of INESC Brussels HUB — ricardo.migueis@inesctec.pt
The Public Narrative
Research consistently fails to become competitive capability.
FP10–ECF instruments cover the full market continuum.
The continuum must be organised: silos and gaps persist.
Different domains reveal different stack dynamics.
Act differently for capability—not just research excellence.
From Winter to Summer
Continuity in the analytical journey
Winter Meeting 2026
Coimbra, 28–29 JanDiagnosed vertical fragmentation and horizontal disconnection between R&I and sectoral transformation.
Summer Meeting 2026
Brussels, 27–28 MayShifts focus to the technology stack as a capability system with its own dynamics and failure modes.
Two Analytical Axes
Context Conditions
Technology Domains
Strategic Objectives
Reframe the Debate
Shift the competitiveness discussion from isolated instruments to technology journeys across the full continuum.
Interrogate FP10–ECF
Test the FP10–ECF relationship through concrete technology pathways, not abstract institutional design alone.
Cross-Actor Diagnosis
Bring together policymakers, RPOs, RTOs, industry, investors, and intermediaries around a shared analytical framework.
Technology Intelligence
Four strategic windows delivering comparable, structured findings across domains.
Common Analytical Template
Stack Breakpoints
Where does the technology capability system break? At which stage and why?
Context Conditions
What systemic enablers (finance, regulation, talent) obstruct progression?
What Works
What European successes exist? What conditions made them possible?
FP10–ECF Asks
What is needed from FP10–ECF? What design features matter most?
Acting Differently
What should Europe do differently to achieve higher competitiveness?
Expected Deliverables
Synthesis document combining closed-door roundtable findings, public session insights, and cross-domain analysis from the four technology windows. Structured around the two axes and the five common questions.
Target: publication within 1 month of the event.
Venue: SQUARE Brussels Meeting Centre
