Search
The European Commission published a report presenting the progress on actions supporting home-grown innovation according to the New European Innovation Agenda (NEIA) which was launched in July 2022. The progress report is entitled: European Innovation Agenda on the move (see link to the report).
According to the report, 13 out of 25 actions have been completed while the other 12 are ongoing.
The agenda aims at boosting deep tech innovation and untapping innovation potential in Europe through a variety of actions in five flagship areas, aimed at leveraging the strengths of the EU’s Single Market, industrial base, talents, stable institutions and democratic societies to drive deep tech innovation in Europe, and deliver on the opportunities offered by the twin transition and the need for economic security and future strategic autonomy. This is complemented by the work on European Research Area (ERA) and with a central role of the European Innovation Council (EIC), as well as the European Institute for Innovation and technology (EIT). With its Innovative Europe pillar, Horizon Europe has given rise to new tools to support start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs.
Key deliverables include:
- new Directives proposed in access to finance for scale-ups and SMEs (Listing Act and Debt Equity Bias Reduction Allowance). These will allow innovative companies to be listed more easily in stock markets and encourage them to use equity financing, instead of debt financing
- actions to attract institutional investors (such as pension funds and insurance companies) in scale-up venture capital funds. This will increase the amount of capital that venture capital funds can invest in innovative companies
- initiatives to promote innovation procurement and experimentation spaces (such as regulatory sandboxes). These will provide additional support to innovative companies and help them in the regulatory process
- the reinforcement of innovation ecosystems and addressing the innovation divide through the development of innovation-oriented networks of regions (Regional Innovation Valleys, see below), and of Universities (Erasmus Plus Alliances for Innovation). Furthermore, the EIC will support a new network of promising scale-ups to accelerate their growth (EIC Scale-up 100 Club)
- skills development through the DeepTech Talent Initiative of the EIT(European Institute of Innovation and Technology), where 1 million people will receive training opportunities in Europe; or the Innovation Talent Pool platform, that will facilitate mobility of skilled individuals towards and within Europe through international recruitment