ERA POLICY AGENDA 2025-2027 - Policy Narrative
(Published in: Council Recommendation on the European Research Area Policy Agenda 2025-2027, 24/5/2025)
(1) Today, the EU faces multiple and unprecedented challenges. The global order is changing and the foundations of our societal well-being and security are being shaken by a turbulent geopolitical context, rising economic competition, an unprecedently rapid and transformative technological revolution, and climate change and its consequences. Research and innovation (R&I) are crucial to reduce Europe’s vulnerabilities and to unlock its full potential across the European Research Area (ERA) as well as playing a critical role in enhancing the European Union’s sustainable competitiveness, societal resilience, prosperity and security. The need to strengthen European leadership and strategic autonomy, while preserving an open economy, in key technological domains has become urgent
(2) Developing the ERA is at the heart of our efforts to respond to these challenges. The ambition to create the ERA as a single market for research, technology and innovation was conceived in 2000 and enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty as a specific EU objective under Article 179 TFEU. While significant progress has been made since 2022 under the first ERA Policy Agenda, more needs to be done to further develop a fully functioning ERA where countries come together to coordinate and improve their national R&I policies and ecosystems, and where knowledge, researchers, innovators and technology can move freely. Greater EU-wide coordination through the ERA can help stimulate investments and reforms, contribute to closing the innovation divide with the EU’s global competitors and within the EU, as well as play an essential role in fostering sustainable competitiveness.
(3) The ERA Policy Agenda is key to implement the ERA priorities, as set out in the Pact for R&I in Europe. It underpins the joint efforts of the European Commission, Member States, and, where appropriate, associated countries and stakeholders, to better coordinate R&I policies at all levels. It fosters their sense of ownership and increased commitment and contributes to working on the concept of a ‘fifth freedom’ – the Single Market for R&I. The ERA Policy Agenda for the next three-year cycle (2025-2027) aims to:
— contribute to enhancing EU competitiveness and ensuring the EU’s strategic autonomy, while preserving an open economy, by coordinating dedicated investments and reforms in R&I and, where appropriate, pooling resources at national and, where applicable, regional levels, and at EU level which are available in the current Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027;
— strengthen the EU’s R&I excellence and impact, its global scientific leadership and attractiveness to global talent by streamlining research career paths, facilitating researchers’ mobility and knowledge sharing across Europe, and promoting access to cutting-edge infrastructures; and
— enhance the EU’s sustainable development and societal impact by coordinating R&I efforts in industrial transformation, by developing synergies with other policies and by promoting a more circular and resilient economy.
(4) The ERA has produced major achievements over the past 25 years in core policy areas including research infrastructures, open science, international cooperation, gender equality and inclusiveness in R&I, joint programming, research careers and researcher mobility. Contributing to these achievements, among others the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) have funded over 150 000 excellent researchers, notably through excellent doctoral programmes, postdoctoral fellowships and R&I staff exchanges, EURAXESS has supported over 2 million researchers in their career development and mobility across Europe and the Open Science Cloud (EOSC) provides seamless access to quality data and digital services while supporting collaboration across borders and disciplines.
(5) In 2021, Member States and the Commission agreed on a new vision and policy framework for the ERA, set out in the Pact for R&I and the Council conclusions on the future governance of the ERA. The long-term vision sets out the common values and principles that will guide R&I and identifies priorities for joint action. In the Pact, Member States reiterated their commitment to work together to achieve the ERA objectives to foster cooperation and coordination of their R&I policies, and reduce fragmentation across Europe in scientific research, technology and innovation. In the 2024 Council conclusions on strengthening the competitiveness of the EU, reinforcing the ERA and overcoming its fragmentation, Member States also stressed that it is essential to continue building and reinforcing R&I ecosystems, and reiterated the need for better coordination and alignment between EU and national policy planning and implementation.
(6) The first ERA Policy Agenda 2022-2024 created a solid foundation to achieve the ERA objectives. It translated the Pact for R&I priority areas into a set of concrete actions. 17 actions were jointly implemented by the Commission, Member States, Horizon Europe associated countries and EU-level stakeholders. As part of the new governance, the ERA Forum and its sub-groups play an important role for the implementation of the ERA and its actions. They provide an efficient framework for collaboration between the Commission, the Member States, associated countries and relevant stakeholders in an inclusive and participatory approach. This fosters innovative strategies and a shared ownership of policies to strengthen Europe’s R&I ecosystem. As a high-level strategic policy joint advisory committee, the European Research Area and Innovation Committee (ERAC) provides early advice to the Council, the Commission and the Member States on strategic R&I policy issues, including on strategic policy orientation and future trends that require the refinement of Union and national, including regional, R&I policies, including on the current and the next Union R&I Framework Programme and other relevant R&I-driven Union initiatives.
(7) The Commission highlighted the achievements of the ERA Policy Agenda 2022-2024 and the new governance in the 2024 Communication ‘Implementation of the European Research Area’. The achievements in addressing a range of R&I needs across Europe under the first ERA Policy Agenda 2022-2024 include, for instance, (1) creating the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA), (2) publishing the ‘Zero tolerance code of conduct on counteracting gender-based violence in the EU research and innovation system’, (3) succesfully carrying out the very first Multilateral Dialogue on principles and values for international cooperation in R&I and adopting a ministerial statement, (4) creating the European framework to attract and retain research, innovation and entrepreneurial talent in Europe and launching the Research and Innovation Careers Observatory, (5) stimulating the green energy transformation by implementing the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda of the ERA pilot on green hydrogen, (6) reinforcing and recognising the importance of research management capabilities, and (7) developing a new ERA monitoring and evaluation framework.
(8) The second ERA Policy Agenda 2025-2027 builds on this approach and is designed to help reinforce the national R&I systems and tackle the complex global challenges Europe is facing. Using the Pact for R&I priority areas for joint action and the implementation outcomes of the first ERA Policy Agenda 2022-2024 as a basis, it sets out 11 long-term structural ERA policies and 8 concrete ERA actions, as defined in paragraph 1 of this recommendation. These are the result of an extensive co-creation process within the ERA Forum, that has focused on the content of the structural ERA policies and ERA actions. Complementarily, ERAC has contributed by providing early strategic advice on the need of an ERA policy narrative, on the structure of the ERA Policy Agenda 2025-2027, on securing the commitment of at least half of the Member States for the implementation of the Agenda, and on the need to better communicate its ambition, targets and priorities. The aim is to start its implementation in 2025. The ERA Policy Agenda 2025-2027 provides continuity on ongoing policies under the first agenda, tackles the ERA’s core long-term objectives, and has the flexibility needed to respond to new strategic needs. It should increase the visibility and raise awareness on ERA, its objectives and its actions.