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Excellence Needs Effective Synergies- INESC position paper on Synergies between European, National and Regional Funds and Programmes for Research, Development and Innovation

Policy Paper

With Commission services sketching portfolios of eighteen, twenty-four or twenty-eight partnerships, down from sixty, and a consultation open until 16 October, the vision must come before the arithmetic.

Executive summary

INESC backs an excellence-based EU framework programme for 2021–2027. It argues, though, that excellence across Europe only works if Cohesion Policy, Horizon Europe, Digital Europe and national and regional programmes are designed to be used together. In regions that depend on structural funds, the money for research and innovation exists, but using it is held back by conflicting rules, mismatched timings, too many overlapping programmes and restrictive State-aid rules. Without real synergies, access to funding starts to count as much as excellence, and less-developed regions lose ground. The paper calls on EU institutions and Portuguese authorities to let structural funds replicate EU programmes under the same rules, offer a generous top-up for doing so, and align smart specialisation strategies with EU R&I policy.

Key takeaways

  • Excellence depends on all research organisations being able to compete for every part of the EU R&I budget on equal terms.
  • Using funds one after another across the innovation cycle has worked best for research organisations.
  • Conflicting rules, misaligned deadlines and State-aid rules are the main obstacles to combining funds.
  • Structural funds should be allowed to copy EU-level programmes under the same rules, with no double funding.
  • Smart specialisation strategies should come out of open consultation with stakeholders and be aligned with EU R&I policy.

Authors & download

Authors: INESC Brussels HUB policy team
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Last reviewed / validation

17/08/2026