At INESC Brussels HUB we are currently finalising a comprehensive positioning towards FP10, but one thing is clear: we advocate for a paradigm shift that seeks balanced funding across the programme’s pillars but also places strategic focus on knowledge valorisation.  

We call for a strategic valorization of knowledge: the traditional pillars of research and innovation demand a bold synthesis, and we need to recreate and reinforce the capacity of translating scientific excellence into societal and economic prosperity. The observed gap in this translation process across Europe, underlines the need for a realignment that champions the valorization of knowledge as the cornerstone of European resilience and strategic autonomy. 

We believe we need a bold reevaluation: Europe’s aspiration to sustain its global leadership in innovation necessitates a reevaluation that transcends conventional funding structures. Our approach must be bold, prioritizing the creation of ecosystems where research, industry, and societal goals interlace seamlessly. Such a strategy underscores the imperative of a balanced and impactful deployment of resources, ensuring that every scientific advancement finds its pathway to societal application. 

Some of our main ideas 

1. Strategic emphasis on societal innovation: Elevate projects that embody the fusion of scientific inquiry with societal goals, where R&I directly addresses Europe’s most pressing challenges. 

2. Catalyzing knowledge into societal value: Advocate for frameworks that enhance the transfer of knowledge into tangible societal benefits. This involves strengthening support for technology transfer, public-private partnerships, and collaborative research ventures that are attuned to societal needs. 

3. Fostering inter-pillar synergy for comprehensive impact: Advocate for an integrated framework that capitalizes on the strengths across pillars, promoting an interchange of ideas and innovations that elevate Europe’s global competitiveness while addressing societal requirements. Enhance this interface through bi-directional flows of knowledge and people, enriching the research and innovation ecosystem with diverse perspectives and expertise. 

4. Championing collaborative ecosystems: Support the creation of dynamic, interdisciplinary ecosystems that are capable of driving the valorization of knowledge, ensuring that research outcomes are not just academically significant but also socially transformative. 

5. Accelerating the development of a bold innovation culture: Emphasize the acceleration of fostering a science and innovation culture that is inherently European yet globally minded—building bridges, pushing boundaries, embracing creativity, ambition, and a willingness to take risks. 

6. Integrating technological development with human capital formation: Highlight the critical need to intertwine technological advancement with the development (especially advanced) of human resources. 

7. Deepen the R&I capacity: Excellence is spread across Europe and we need to destigmatize it, fully mobilize the existing brain power and infrastructures without outdated concepts made for the turn of the century.  

We are living through one of the most historical and disruptive periods ever, and science and technology are at the heart of it. Let’s embrace it.