Boost EU research spending to €220B or lose against US, China, experts warn

The European Union should boost its next research and innovation budget to €220 billion — more than double the current figure — to stay competitive globally, a group of experts warned in a report seen by POLITICO ahead of its release.

The report, ordered by the European Commission’s research department, rates Europe’s research and innovation spending against geopolitical rivals, including the United States and China.

More investment in the Horizon Europe program “is not a subsidy or expense; it’s an investment in our future,” the experts said, asking for a twofold increase of the current €95 billion allocation for the next program from 2028 to 2034.

Such a steep hike may prove difficult to secure as there is growing pressure for the EU’s €1.7 trillion seven-year cash pot to fund new priorities such as defense and building pan-European champions.

The report, chaired by former Portuguese Technology Minister Manuel Heitor, cites several areas where Europe’s market share is declining or significantly below its main competitors, such as the EU’s share of scientific publications, patent applications, or public and private R&I investments.

“Compared to the U.S., the EU fails to scale new innovative companies to become global giants,” the report said. “Additionally, and partly as a result, the EU has developed undesirable dependencies in certain critical technologies,” it said.

The experts lament that policymakers failed to pick up on a call to increase spending in 2017, resulting in “adverse consequences for European competitiveness.”

They also said that the current budget “has been raided to fund new priorities.” The EU’s push to develop chipmaking in Europe, the Chips Act, was one program that sought to divert some cash from Horizon.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her political guidelines has promised to “put research and innovation at the heart of our economy.”