Memo to the commissioner responsible for research and innovation

Memo

Memo to the commissioner responsible for research and innovation

Publishing date: 04 September 2024
Authors: Reinhilde Veugelers

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Various indicators show the European Union continuing and even increasing to lag behind the United States and China on research and innovation, mostly for R&D carried out by companies. You must use the main instrument at your disposal – the Framework Programme for research – to push for improvements in the EU position, while bearing in mind that most EU public R&D spending comes from the budgets of member states. In reforming the EU research programme and its components you should be guided be an assessment of the effects of any EU research spending in terms of redressing the EU’s current R&D performance deficits, learning from what has worked best in the past, while not being shy to pilot new instruments, including an EU mission-oriented advanced research projects agency. You should show more clearly how EU countries are benefitting from EU research support, while remaining internationally open.

Key actions:

Implement effects-based Framework Programme reform
Develop a truly directed, mission-oriented perspective
Foster partnerships based on excellence

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About the authors

Reinhilde Veugelers

Prof Dr. Reinhilde Veugelers is a full professor at KULeuven (BE) at the Department of Management, Strategy and Innovation. She has been a Senior fellow at Bruegel since 2009. She is also a CEPR Research Fellow, a member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and of the Academia Europeana. From 2004-2008, she was on academic leave, as advisor at the European Commission (BEPA Bureau of European Policy Analysis). She served on the ERC Scientific Council from 2012-2018 and on the RISE Expert Group advising the commissioner for Research. She is a member of VARIO, the expert group advising the Flemish minister for Innovation. She is currently a member of the Board of Reviewing Editors of the journal Science and a co-PI on the Science of Science Funding Initiative at NBER.

With her research concentrated in the fields of industrial organisation, international economics and strategy, innovation and science, she has authored numerous well cited publications in leading international journals. Specific recent topics include novelty in technology development, international technology transfers through MNEs, global innovation value chains, young innovative companies, innovation for climate change, industry science links and their impact on firm’s innovative productivity, evaluation of research & innovation policy, explaining scientific productivity, researchers’ international mobility, novel scientific research.

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