The geography of innovation: Enhancing R&I performance to support the EU's strategic goals

Europe's leaders have made clear that science and innovation are central to the EU's future prosperity. The challenge now is to translate this political 'direction of travel' into the development of the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework and FP10. For research and innovation (R&I) stakeholders, three important questions arise.

1. How can the EU and member-states effectively measure progress towards their desired goals?
2. Is there a clear understanding of the ‘changing geography’ of science globally – namely, where countries or regions are outperforming or underperforming in strategic areas, and the factors behind those trends?
3. How will universities – among the most essential drivers of European R&I – contribute to the strategic objectives for the European Research Area (ERA), and how to better capture their impact?

Tracking how R&I contributes to key policy and technology areas requires continual monitoring and mechanisms to ensure that outcomes inform future policy decisions. This would encompass not just Europe’s strengths and weaknesses in key scientific and technological domains, but also its human capacities – from people, skills and mobility to industry-academic collaboration and peer-to-peer partnerships with associated countries.

This report summarises a roundtable discussion, which brought together senior figures and experts from across the R&I spectrum in Brussels on 2 December 2025. The objective was to generate ideas to help Europe make evidence-based choices to close the global innovation divide, boost its economic resilience, and stand on its own two feet in an increasingly unpredictable world of science and technology.

With the support of: