Taking up together the challenges posed by the twin green and digital transition, and increasing society's participation in the ERA

10. Make EU research and innovation missions and partnerships key contributors to the ERA

Action 10 focuses on the and connected with Horizon Europe. It aims to implement these initiatives in a way that maximises their impact, establishes them as key contributors to the ERA, and ensures that they support the twin green and digital transition.

EU Missions have been introduced to the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme for the 2021-2027 programming period. They support Commission priorities, such as the European Green Deal, Beating Cancer and Europe fit for the Digital Age by setting targets with clear timelines and deliverables to achieve concrete solutions to these challenges. The Missions incorporate governance, collaboration, and citizen engagement into R&I. The main outcome for EU Missions outlined in Action 10 is to share information, raise awareness and develop ownership of EU R&I Missions at national, regional and community levels.

European Partnerships are a key implementation tool of Horizon Europe that brings public and/or private partners together with the European Commission to address societal challenges through R&I initiatives. The Partnerships primarily aim to deliver on the European Green Deal and Europe’s Digital Decade by supporting partnerships in finding creative solutions to tackling emissions in energy-intensive industries and developing innovative data technologies. They allow for the pooling of resources, the creation of a critical mass and the alignment of R&I agendas to avoid duplication of investments and reduce the fragmentation of the R&I sector. Within Action 10, the Partnership Knowledge Hub contributes to monitoring Partnerships’ performance and how they contribute to the values and principles of the new ERA.

11. An ERA for green transformation

This Action aims at setting and implementing strategic priorities that deliver on the ERA agenda, by prioritising investments in R&I towards the green transition, improving access to excellence, translating R&I results into the economy and deepening policies that promote the free circulation of knowledge.

Accelerating research and innovation and improving collaboration between private and public R&I in the Member States with a view to early market introduction of clean technology solutions is crucial to achieving the ambitious targets set by the European Commission to become climate neutral by 2050 and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990.

Part of Action 11 is foreseen to contribute to the achievement of three key outcomes, as outlined in the European Research Area Policy Agenda 2022-2024:

Policy approach for a cooperation framework on R&I driven safe and sustainable low-carbon energy technologies;
Development of a green hydrogen R&I ERA pilot action, while ensuring consistency with other related initiatives and without prejudice to the relevance of a broader hydrogen R&I policy approach;
ERA4FutureWork: a policy approach (at local, regional, national and EU levels) to address research and development (R&D) funding for the Future of Work.

Action 11 is part of the priority area ‘Taking up together the challenges posed by the twin green and digital transition and increasing society’s participation in the ERA’ and linked with Actions 10-14 focussing on the twin green and digital transition and the challenges for society and R&I linked to them. The action is particularly closely linked to Action 12 of accelerating the green/digital transition of Europe’s key industrial ecosystem.

12. Accelerate the green/digital transition of Europe’s key industrial ecosystems

The green and digital transitions call for increased R&I investments as well as timely scale-up and deployment of results, notably by industry, including SMEs and start-ups. The European Green Deal is a long-term vision for a greener, fairer, more resilient society with the ambition for significant greenhouse gas emissions reduction by 2030 and achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Implementing this ambition requires the mobilisation of all available R&I investment programmes, but also strategic and joint engagement by policy-makers, industry and R&I stakeholders at EU and national levels.

The outcomes of Action 12 are to create stronger links between research & innovation and industrial policies, encourage systematic transfer of R&I results into EU industrial ecosystems and mobilise private and public R&I investments for a faster development and deployment of key green and digital technologies through the following activities:

Facilitate a consultation process on R&I-related needs of industries, including skilling needs, digitalisation, R&I driven standardisation, technology roadmaps, and research infrastructures;
Develop a policy framework to support industrial R&I from fundamental research to breakthrough knowledge and innovation;
Develop a policy approach to link industrial and R&I policies, on how to speed up the industrial absorption of R&I results for decarbonisation of energy-intensive industries;
Develop industrial technology roadmaps for low-carbon technologies in energy-intensive industries and for circular technologies and business models at EU and national levels;
Develop a coordination mechanism to provide industry with the Technology Infrastructures needed to test, validate and scale up innovations;
Address the social adaptation driven by the green (and digital) transitions.

Action 12 is part of the priority area ‘Taking up together the challenges posed by the twin green and digital transition and increasing society’s participation in the ERA’ and linked with actions 10 and 14, focussing on the green and digital transitions and the challenges for society and R&I linked to them. The action is also particularly closely linked to action 11, the ERA For Green Energy Transformation.

13. Empower Higher Education Institutions

Action 13 acknowledges the role of European universities in driving the green and digital transition and aims at empowering them to take an active role on this front. Through its focus on higher education, Action 13 is strongly interrelated with the achievement of the European Education Area by 2025. The action seeks to offer new ways for universities and researchers to work, cooperate and innovate across borders, and aims at ensuring Europe’s role and competitiveness on the global stage in research and innovation.

As outlined in the ERA Policy Agenda 2022-2024, Action 13 revolves around three core outcomes:

Supporting universities in their digital transition.
Developing a policy approach to equip researchers with the skills needed for an interoperable career in academia and beyond.
Developing a policy approach on future EU level support for the further development of Horizon Europe institutions, including through a and the consolidation of the .

The ERA Forum subgroup decided to focus on the third objective given that the first and second objectives are largely tackled by other ERA Actions (in particular Actions 1 and 4).

14. Bring Science closer to citizens

The role of citizens has been evidenced as crucial to ensure broader impact of R&I as well as higher alignment with societal needs and challenges. As a result of its relevance, citizen engagement has been embedded into the EU Missions. Missions have the potential to mobilize EU citizens around common goals and to offer meaningful opportunities to participate in change. They are instrumental to building a deliberative democracy in the EU.

Consequently, the ERA aims to empower citizens and local communities to promote their engagement, trust and interest in science. Education, training activities and regular citizen science campaigns are some of the key instruments implemented to achieve this objective. Additionally, this action also promotes co-creation and collaboration with citizens in view of ensuring the societal uptake of the developed solutions and results.

The ERA Policy Agenda 2022-2024 defines the following expected outcomes within Action 14:

Scale-up the - Go Europe Initiative;
Launch the , during the European Year for Youth;
Feasibility analysis for a federated ‘EU Science Media Network’ to ensure more factual journalistic reporting on science;
Propose a policy coordination mechanism on public engagement practices, including citizen involvement in scientific processes.