Von der Leyen seeks to support research by cutting red tape

Brussels – The goal is to attract researchers to Europe and jumpstart EU research and to do so, the idea is to simplify the rules in the research sector after the general principles announced in the Competitiveness Compass. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen intends to extend this policy goal to key areas of many sectors. “We will put forward a first ever European Innovation Act and a Startup and Scaleup Strategy to remove regulatory and other barriers and to facilitate access to venture capital for innovative European startups and scaleups,” she said at the Choose Europe for Science conference organized at the University la Sorbonne in Paris at the initiative of the French government.

Von der Leyen does not go into details, as she often tends to do when announcing legislative initiatives. However, she promises paradigm shifts. “We know that the path from fundamental research to business and to market is not straightforward or fast enough here in Europe,” she acknowledged. It means too much cost and too much time wasted on bureaucratic procedures. “We are ready to tackle this head-on.” Hence, shed pledged to “fast-track the pathway – from breakthrough science to transformative innovation and business opportunities.”

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Regulatory simplification is probably the only area where the community executive can make a real impact, as it can do on resources. Without going into detail, Von der Leyen announced an all-new 500 million package for research for the 2025-2027 three-year period alone. There is doubt and probability that this is not fresh money but resources from a common budget that runs up to 2027. The subsequent announcement supported this hypothesis: “We will put forward ambitious proposals on research and innovation funding in the next long-term budget,” the 2028-2034 MFF, the first draft of which is due in September.

The call for more national commitments, which even the  EU Commission president makes, remains to be proven. To the audience at the Sorbonne, von der Leyen confides that “for the mid- and long-term, together with our Member States, we want to reach the 3 percent of GDP target for investment in research and development by 2030.” However, for many member states, the possibility of spending is limited, if at all possible, and governments are going into debt to support the defense industry. 

Von der Leyen, however, wants to try. “We want to strengthen the free movement of knowledge and data across Europe – just as we do for goods, talents, and capital across our Single Market,” she said. Research and innovation are indispensable elements. “Without science, we simply cannot address today’s global challenges, from health to new technologies, from climate to oceans.” Simplification becomes the watchword here as well.