On 16 October, ERRIN was at the launch of the awaited report of the Expert Group on the interim evaluation of Horizon Europe together with the R&I community. In a full room, and with some 1000 online participants, the Expert Group chaired by Manuel Heitor handed their report to Commissioner Iliana Ivanova.

Looking towards the future of EU research and innovation, the report outlines 12 recommendations in the spirit of its title: "Act, Align, Accelerate – Research, Technology and Innovation to boost European competitiveness".

The document proposes four spheres of action to deliver European added value:

• Promote and strengthen competitive excellence
• Foster industrial competitiveness
• Promote societal transformation through research and innovation
• Strenghten European R&I ecosystem

ERRIN welcomes the report and is pleased to see that R&I ecosystems are high on the agenda. As highlighted also by the Draghi report, Europe’s innovation ecosystem is fragmented. The fragmentation is, however, also due to the fact that innovation is largely place-based, which needs to be addressed. Ensuring well-connected place-based R&I ecosystems will be essential for guaranteeing Europe’s competitiveness.

Find the official press release here and the full report of the Expert Group here.

ERRIN submitted a two-page input for the attention of the Expert Group in May. We also had a chance to exchange with Manuel Heitor as the Chair of the Expert Group on two occasions at ERRIN during the first half of the year. The newly published report may serve as a starting point for many discussions over the next months. We look forward to continuing the conversation as ERRIN is currently working on a paper on R&I ecosystems in its FP10 paper series.

Read ERRIN's FP10 papers so far here.