G20 European Union
European Union
Overview of the European Union (EU) policy framework on innovation including open innovation
The new Commission has an ambitious political mandate, based on the 2024-2029 President’s Political Guidelines, to be a growth and investment Commission. The 2024 Draghi Report shows that innovation must be at the heart of European renewal, while removing other constraints holding back growth. Innovation and competitiveness are in the centre of this mandate. An EU Competitiveness Compass. that will guide the work in the coming five years and lists priority actions to reignite economic dynamism in Europe has been put in place, where innovation-led productivity plays a central role. Innovation, particularly deep-tech innovation, is Europe’s response to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, digitising the economy, and securing food, energy, and raw materials. The New European Innovation Agenda aims to position Europe at the forefront of the new wave of deep tech innovation and start-ups development. It supports the creation of breakthrough technologies to address the most pressing societal challenges and bring them to market through innovation procurement, a pivotal demand-side tool for modernising public services and driving the growth of innovative European companies.
The EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy adopted in May 2025 proposes a comprehensive set of actions to make the EU the best place in the world to launch and grow technology-driven innovative companies. It focuses on helping innovators, founders and investors to Choose Europe by improving the conditions for startups and scaleups, enabling them to capitalise on new geopolitical opportunities and reducing the reasons to relocate outside the EU. It sets out legislative, policy and financial support measures, at both EU and Member States level, to address the needs of innovative companies throughout their development.
Key actions are focused on fostering innovation-friendly regulation, improving access to finance, accelerating market uptake and expansion, attracting and retaining the best talent and facilitating access to infrastructure, networks and services.
The European Commission has also launched a call for evidence and a public consultation, inviting all interested stakeholders to contribute to the future European Innovation Act. A key deliverable of the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy, the European Innovation Act will facilitate bringing innovative ideas to market across all sectors. It will aim to address challenges in commercialising research results, strengthen collaboration between the industry and the academia, and improve access of innovative companies to markets, finance, talent and infrastructures. It will also create a more innovation-friendly regulatory, policy and investment environment across the EU, to give European innovators the tools they need to grow and scale within the EU and compete globally.
Innovation Related EU Policy Framework Resources
The New European Innovation Agenda
The New European Innovation Agenda helps Europe to develop new technologies to address the most pressing societal challenges, and to bring them on the market through innovation procurement, a pivotal demand side instrument to modernise public services with innovative solutions while boosting the growth of innovative companies in Europe.
EU Definition of Open Innovation
Open Innovation is based on the fundamental idea that useful knowledge is now widespread throughout society. No one organisation has a monopoly on great ideas, and every organisation, no matter how effective internally, needs to engage deeply and extensively with external knowledge networks and communities. Open innovation is a combination of the power of ideas and knowledge from different actors to co-create new products and find solutions to societal needs as well as creating shared economic and social value, including a citizen and user-centric approach.
Flagship 3 of the New European Innovation Agenda
The Regional Innovation Valleys (RIVs) Initiative is one of 25 actions of the New European Innovation Agenda (NEIA). It aims to harness the full innovation potential across Europe, connecting less and more innovative regions and addressing social challenges through cutting edge technology.
The EU Innovation Talent Platform
Within the flagship 4 aimed to provide mobility of skilled individuals towards and within Europe through international recruitment and by supporting matchmaking between EU-based employers and qualified nationals of non-EU countries wishing to work and move legally to the EU.
Eureka
An open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying through Eureka programmes can access funding and support from national and regional ministries or agencies for their international R&D projects.
Supporting SMEs Going Global
If you are an innovative SME, you can apply to Innowwide for a grant of 60,000 euro to assess the viability of your research or commercial ambitions in international markets.
Intellectual Property Helpdesk of the European Commission
Aiming to support IP capacity building along the full scale of IP practices, we provide free-of-charge, first-line support to European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on IP management, protection and enforcement covering six different regions: China, Europe, India, Latin America, South-East Asia and Africa.
African Union - European Union innovation Agenda
2025 marks the 15th anniversary of the African Union (AU)-European Union (EU) High-Level Policy Dialogue on Science, Technology and Innovation. The resources of information listed below are existing platforms complementing the AU-EU Innovation Agenda.
The AU-EU Innovation Interface
The core purpose of this platform is to support the implementation of the AU-EU Innovation Agenda by providing resources and information, and facilitating the connection between businesses, innovators, researchers and other stakeholders from both Africa and Europe.
The African Union-European Union Innovation Platform (AEIP)
This platform has been designed to connect stakeholders of the innovation value chains and their ecosystems across and between Africa and Europe. Launched in January 2025, (funded by the EU’s Framework Programme Horizon Europe) this platform aims to maximise the societal, economic, and scientific impact, positioning itself as a ‘network of networks’ supporting the AU-EU innovation agenda while reinforcing existing initiatives. The platform is currently under preparation and will expand in the coming months, based on the outcome of the ongoing mapping of stakeholders needs.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) implementation and Monitoring
EU Approach to SDGs Implementation
The European Commission is committed to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations (UN). Under the leadership of President von der Leyen, the Commission is implementing an ambitious policy programme to deliver on sustainability in the EU and beyond.
Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were established in 2015 by the international community as part of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through which countries of the world collectively pledged to eradicate poverty, find sustainable and inclusive development solutions, ensure everyone’s human rights, and generally make sure that no one is left behind by 2030.
The EU Voluntary Review
The first Voluntary Review of the European Union – a Union of 447 million citizens and 27 countries – on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development shows that the EU is fully committed to delivering the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 2030 Agenda is indivisibly linked to the Paris Agreement on climate change (1) and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development (2).
Models for SDGs
The mapping of EC models against the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aims at facilitating and improving the use of models for sustainability assessment in the SDGs framework. Achieving sustainable development requires a good understanding of the processes, the impacts of policies and the interlinkages (synergies and trade-offs) among the goals, and models can provide a concrete contribution.
The Localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
The LocalSDGs project seeks to offer assistance and direction to local officials and stakeholders in adapting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the subnational level, including regional and urban contexts.
On SDGs and Health
An important feature of health research is international cooperation. Several initiatives bring together the European Commission with other health research funders from Europe and around the world on research needs relevant for people’s health. A special commitment to SDG3 is the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP3), in which the European Commission is cooperating with African and European Countries to fund clinical research and development of medical tools to detect, treat and prevent poverty-related infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa.
European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership
The European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) is a public-public partnership between countries in Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, supported by the European Union.
International Rare Diseases Research Consortium
This project has the objective to enable all people living with a rare disease to receive an accurate diagnosis, care, and available therapy within one year of coming to medical attention.
Global Research Collaboration on Infectious Diseases Preparedness
GloPID-R brings together funders investing in research related to new or re-emerging infectious diseases. Our aim is to increase preparedness and speed up the research response to outbreaks with pandemic potential.
Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases
GACD is the only collaboration of major international research funding agencies specifically addressing the growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in low- and middle-income countries, and vulnerable populations in high-income countries.
International Consortium for Personalised Medicine
Since 2016 the International Consortium for Personalised Medicine (ICPerMed) with more than 40 European and international partners provides a platform to initiate and support communication and exchange on personalised medicine research funding and implementation.
Human Frontier Science Program Organization
The Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) promotes international collaboration in basic research focused on the elucidation of the sophisticated and complex mechanisms of living organisms.
Joint Programming Initiative on Anti-Microbial Resistance
The Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance, JPIAMR is a global collaborative organisation and platform, engaging 29 nations to curb antimicrobial resistance (AMR) with a One Health approach.
Joint Programming Initiative on Neurodegenerative Disease Research
The EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) is the largest global research initiative aimed at tackling the challenge of neurodegenerative diseases.
On SDGs and Bioeconomy and Biodiversity
Bioeconomy
The 2018 EU Bioeconomy Strategy accelerated the deployment of a sustainable European bioeconomy, with also a view to maximise its contribution towards the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as the Paris Agreement. The Bioeconomy Strategy will be updated in 2025 following the political priorities of the 2024-2029 mandate of the European Commission. The new Bioeconomy Strategy, due for adoption by the end of 2025, aims to advance innovation and maintain the EU's leadership in the bioeconomy. It will propose actions to unlock the potential of bioeconomy innovations, so that they can reach the market, generating green jobs and growth.
Biodiversity
Biodiversity-rich ecosystems are essential for life. They provide food, health and medicines, materials, recreation, wellbeing and much more. The European Union and its Member States constitute the top donors of international aid for biodiversity. In the last decade they collectively upheld their commitment to double financial flows to developing countries for biodiversity . In 2024, the European Commission signed a new five-year contract with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) supporting a new cycle of data mobilisation and capacity development projects through the EU flagship Biodiversity Information for Development (BID) programme.
Ocean
Providing different opportunities for actors and citizens to support and implement ideas related to ocean and waters ecosystem restoration, the prevention and elimination of pollution, and making the sustainable blue economy circular and carbon neutral.
Circular Economy
The EU’s transition to a circular economy will reduce pressure on natural resources and create sustainable growth and jobs. It will also help to achieve the 2050 climate neutrality target set out in the European Green Deal and contributes to the policy objectives of the EU Bioeconomy Strategy.
Water Management
Environmental and social changes are deeply affecting Euro-Mediterranean agro-food systems and water resources. Unsustainable agricultural practices, lack of water, over exploitation of natural resources, new lifestyle behaviours (diet, physical activity and socio-cultural) and low profitability of smallholders are challenging the sustainable and healthy development of the Region, with major impacts on our societies.
Food Systems
European food systems are supported by initiatives like PRIMA and its SRIA, the EU's "A Soil Deal for Europe," and the FNSSA partnership, aiming to advance sustainable agriculture, soil health, and food and nutrition security aligned with relevant SDGs.
Publications
Navigating Opportunity Spaces: A Practitioner's Guide to Linking Climate Adaptation and Place-Based Transformative Innovation Policy
The Opportunity Spaces publication offers a comprehensive approach to help regions identify and activate opportunities at the intersection of innovation policy and climate adaptation. Through three complementary components, it supports practitioners in developing more transformative approaches to territorial development. The publication introduces a novel conceptual framework that helps practitioners understand opportunity spaces through three key dimensions: timing (windows of opportunity), place-based conditions (territorial assets and constraints), and actor capacities (stakeholder capabilities). This framework emphasizes the dynamic nature of opportunity spaces and the importance of conversations - from initial awareness-raising through to systemic transformation. It particularly highlights how different policy areas can be activated and combined to create more transformative approaches.
Towards a Fair and Sustainable Europe 2050: Social and Economic Choices in Sustainability Transitions
The foresight study explores possible and necessary changes in the European social and economic systems as the European Union engages in managing sustainability transitions towards 2050. With this focus, the study presents strategic areas of intervention covering a new social contract, governance for sustainability, people and economy, and the global perspective on sustainability. The study reflects on the agency of EU actors (such as government at various levels, business, and communities) to address the strategic areas of intervention as part of collectively addressing sustainability transitions. The study builds on a participatory foresight exercise, which generated four foresight scenarios for a climate-neutral EU in 2050. Based on each scenario, a corresponding transition pathway was co-created and analysed through the process. The study presents and analyses these outputs of the process. The outputs can also serve as input to policymakers and practitioners interested in conducting new participatory exercises on sustainability transitions.
Tracking Country Innovation Performance: The Innovation Output Indicator 2024
The report presents the 2024 edition of the Innovation Output Indicator (IOI), a composite indicator published by the European Commission since 2013 to offer an output-focused metric of innovation performance at the country and EU levels. The IOI measures countries’ capacity to derive economic benefits from innovation by tracking the extent to which innovative ideas reach the market, create knowledge-intensive jobs, and increase country technological capability.
Digital Platforms
Africa Knowledge Platform
This platform features Joint Research Centre (JRC) data, tools, partnerships, and stories, it provides a single entry-point to the wealth of European Commission knowledge on Africa and aims to support the European Union’s objective of deepening the partnership with Africa.
The KnowSDGs Platform
The objective of the JRC knowSDGs platform is to provide interactive and easy-to-use data visualization of Sustainable Development Goal indicators.
