A call to strengthen research and innovation in Europe#
A group of European R&I stakeholder organisations who recently formed the Research Matters campaign
published an open letter advocating for increased funding for research and innovation across Europe. This letter highlights the critical need for enhanced investment to tackle Europe's current and future challenges.
By signing this open letter, the signing organisations are contributing to a unified call for policymakers to prioritize and allocate the necessary resources to ensure Europe remains at the forefront of scientific and technological development.
The Board of Trustees of the Academia Europaea signed the open letter endorsing the initiative on behalf of Academia Europaea.#
Campaign partners:#
Arces – CESAER – Coimbra Group – EASSH – EARMA – EUA – EuroTech – EU-LIFE – The Guild – LERU – Science Europe – UniLion – Yerun – University of Bergen and EUPRIO (host).
Open letter
A call to strengthen research and innovation in Europe#
4 June 2024
In a world of major environmental, societal, and geopolitical crises, it is imperative that Europe invests in its future. Investing in our knowledge capital is the foundation for Europe’s competitiveness, wellbeing, and peace.
We need urgent solutions to address the complex challenges facing our societies: Climate change, AI, cybersecurity, environmental and energy crises, threats to democracy and security, pandemics, among others. Developing and enhancing excellent research and innovation with a long-term, multidisciplinary, and cross- sectoral perspective is key to our future.
In recent years, North America and Asia have massively ramped up their investments, leaving Europe behind. To remain competitive and advance the economic, ecological, and societal transitions, European countries and the EU must boost their research and innovation funding.
With the ResearchMatters campaign, leading research, and innovation (R&I) organisations urge Finance Ministers of European countries, and the European Council, Commission and Parliament, to act boldly and:
- Push funding for research and development in Europe through the achievement of over 3% of the GDP within the European Union and all European countries.
- Double the budget for the EU’s next research & innovation programme (FP10) to reach 200 billion
- Protect the latter by ringfencing the budget.
Together, these measures are critical to provide Europe with strategies to cope with current and future geopolitical and societal challenges. By increasing investments in knowledge creation, research, and research- driven innovation, we are investing in the very future of Europe and its people. In this campaign, we urge the European institutions and all European countries, national and regional policymakers, the whole research and innovation community, society, and the media, to join our quest.
The time to act is now! Let’s get our act together and build a bright future for Europe. Read about the campaign and stories on the benefits of R&I on: research-matters.eu.
If you’re interested in signing this initiative, please send us an e-mail at info@research-matters.eu
.
Signing organisations:#
International organisations
Academia Europaea - signed 4 June 2024
ALLEA (All European Academies) – signed 4 June 2024
CESAER (Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research) – signed 4 June 2024
Coimbra Group Universities – signed 4 June 2024
DSW (Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung) – signed 7. June 2024
EARMA (European Association of Research Managers and Administrators) – signed 4 June 2024
ECIU (European Consortium of Innovative Universities) – signed 4 June 2024
EERA (European Energy Research Alliance) – signed 4 June 2024
EOSC Association – signed 4 June 2024
EASSH (European Alliance for Social Sciences and Humanities) – signed 4 June 2024
EUA (European University Association) – signed 4 June 2024
EU-LIFE (Alliance of independent European research institutes in the life science) – signed 4 June 2024
Eurodoc – signed 4 June 2024
EUPRIO (European Association of Communication Professionals in Higher Education) – campaign host
ERT (European Round Table for Industry) – signed 12 June 2024
EuroTech Universities Alliance – signed 4 June 2024
LERU (League of European Research Universities) – signed 4 June 2024
FEAM (Federation of European Academies of Medicine) – signed 4 June 2024
Moral Diplomat – signed 4 June 2024
Science Europe – signed 4 June 2024
UAS4EUROPE – signed 4 June 2024
The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities – signed 4 June 2024
ISE (Initiative for Science in Europe) – signed 4 June 2024
UnILiON (Universities Informal Liasion Offices Network) – signed 4 June 2024
YERUN (Young European Research Universities Network) – signed 4 June 2024
Young Academy of Europe – signed 4 June 2024
National organisations and associations
ARCES – France – signed 4 June 2024
Slovenian Forestry Institute – Slovenia – signed 5 June 2024
Swiss National Science Foundation – Switzerland – signed 4 June 2024
Universities#
Coventry University, United Kingdom – signed 6 June 2024
Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands – signed 4 June 2024
Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany – signed 18 June 2024
Hanken School of Economics, Finland – signed 4 June 2024
Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Finland – signed 5 June 2024
Politecnico di Torino, Italy – signed 4 June 2024
University of Aveiro, Portugal – signed 5 June 2024
University of Bergen, Norway – signed 4 June 2024
University of Coimbra, Portugal – signed 4 June 2024
University of Twente, The Netherlands – signed 14 June 2024
Uppsala University, Sweden – signed 11 June 2024
Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium – signed 4 June 2024
About the campaign#
The Research Matters campaign is a collaboration between European universities, research organizations, funding agencies, industry partners, and communication professionals across Europe. We seek to reach decision-makers, stakeholders across various sectors, media, and citizens at local, national, and European levels.
The Research Matters campaign is an initiative dedicated to mobilizing and uniting the European research and innovation community. We aim to raise awareness of the crucial role research plays in shaping our future and addressing global challenges, and advocate for increased investment in research and innovation.
Our goals are:
- Increased funding for R&D and over 3% of GDP in EU and all European countries
- Doubling the budget for the EU’s next research and innovation programme (FP10)
- Protecting the latter by ring-fencing it
Read more about why research matters.
Contact#
E-mail: info@research-matters.eu
Follow: #ResearchMatters
