Interconnected Innovation Ecosystems (2026.3)

Today’s challenges are inherently complex and systemic and cannot be solved by individual actors or territories in isolation. Enhancing the innovation ecosystems across the European Union (EU) requires a holistic approach that is nuanced, collaborative and inclusive, connecting diverse actors along the research and innovation cycle.

Interconnectedness is particularly crucial to boost Europe’s competitiveness. Despite the competitive advantages of the European innovation ecosystems, much of the knowledge produced in Europe remains unexploited. As has been highlighted by the Draghi report^[1], a key reason behind this failure is the fact that researchers in Europe are less well integrated into networks of universities, startups, large companies and venture capitalists, which account for a large share of successful commercialisations in high-tech sectors. This indicates that strengthening the links between resources, organisations and investors is a crucial step to putting research and innovation at the heart of our economy.

Such effectively connected ecosystems can provide innovative companies with the necessary support and conditions to thrive through access to capabilities, data, customers, knowledge, and talent. Network connectivity within and between innovation ecosystems greatly contributes to sustainable business growth with high societal value. In line with the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy, this destination improves the framework conditions for startups and scaleups, enabling them to capitalise on new geopolitical opportunities and reducing the reasons to relocate outside the EU.

Therefore, the actions of this destination aim to shift the European economy towards a more entrepreneurial, innovative and inclusive model by strengthening and expanding cooperation between innovation players. They aim to create a dynamic ecosystem to better support the next generation of innovative companies whose solutions will lead the shift towards a more competitive EU and a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient world.

In addition to stronger innovation performance, increased competitiveness and faster transitions to a green and digital society, ecosystem integration can provide innovation actors and companies with access to new resources, markets, customers, and contribute to disruptive and innovative solutions. By being actively engaged in their local, regional, national, and European networks, companies can increase their overall growth potential.

Accordingly, this destination offers a holistic package of actions that:

• Increase the capacity to convert research results generated in Europe into innovative products and services, leading to a higher rate of successful commercialization of these solutions by companies based in the Member States and Associated Countries;
• Reinforce EU strategic autonomy and increase resilience in the supply chains by opening up opportunities for innovative companies to access the public procurement market and scale up their business;
• Establish robust, pan-European alliances of top-tier deep tech startup and scaleup hubs embedded in research and higher education ecosystems;
• Facilitate market expansion for deep tech startups across regions and sectors, thus enhancing cohesion and competitiveness across the EU;
• Strengthen less-connected innovation ecosystems by integrating them into a Europe-wide collaborative network;
• Increase the level of public and private investments in innovative companies, particularly startups and scaleups, through strengthened links with investors, including foundations;
• Establish stronger links between regions and countries with different innovation performances across the EU and Associated Countries;
• Promote a better alignment of the innovation policies of the Member States and Associated Countries, in line with the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy, through the EIC Forum;
• As a result of the above, achieve an increased level of retention of promising startups and scaleups in Europe, particularly in the deep tech sector and strategic sectors like life sciences, artificial intelligence, clean tech, biotech, security, defence (including dual use technologies), robotics, advanced and raw materials, quantum technologies, cybersecurity, and many others.

Where appropriate, the applicants should consider and actively seek synergies with possibilities for further funding from other relevant EU, national and/or regional innovation programmes, including Cohesion Policy funds, the Recovery and Resilience Fund and other public and private funds or financial instruments.

Expected impact

Proposals for topics under this destination should set out a credible pathway to strengthening robust interconnected innovation ecosystems and creating a favourable environment to promote the scalability of businesses, including in the deep tech sector, and more specifically covering one or several of the following impacts:

• More competitive and more efficient European innovation ecosystems which provide favourable framework conditions for the development and market uptake of innovative solutions, drawing on the existing strengths of national, regional, and local ecosystems;
• Enhanced cross-border network connectivity and inter-regional collaboration to untap Europe’s potential for successful commercialization of innovative products and services, notably through reinforced links between resources, organizations, investors and policymakers;
• Improved access to funding by European startups and scaleups, notably in the deep-tech and strategic sectors, through diverse sources, including innovation procurement and philanthropy;
• Enhanced knowledge and technology transfer and capacity building within the European innovation ecosystems, providing innovative companies with the necessary conditions to thrive;
• Increased participation of less represented R&I stakeholders and less advanced innovation territories in the R&I cycle, capitalising on the experience and vision of an increasingly diverse range of people, companies and territories while promoting social cohesion, inclusion, accessibility and gender balance;
• Improved systemic conditions to tackle key EU strategic priorities, including the green and digital transitions, through building innovative capacities;
• Increased coordination of innovation policy and networking activities by the Member States and Associated Countries through the EIC Forum.

[1] The future of European competitiveness – A competitiveness strategy for Europe

Expected Outcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:

• Increased commercialisation of academic research results, by facilitating access for industry, startups and scaleups to the intellectual assets of academic research;
• Strengthened collaboration between industry and academia, reflected in an increased number of technology transfer deals and joint R&D projects resulting in market-ready innovations;
• Introduced more startup friendly intellectual asset transfer/licensing policies in universities/research and higher education institutions/RTOs;
• Increased number of spinoffs by enabling researchers to overcome the barriers to commercialising their intellectual assets;
• Reduced transaction costs related to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) negotiations by establishing more standardised asset transfer policies across universities/research and higher education institutions/RTOs;
• Optimised transfer/licensing processes by universities/research and higher education institutions/RTOs based on grouping intellectual assets in portfolios that can be commercialised in package deals that are more attractive for industry and investors.

Scope:

Academic knowledge producing organisations (universities, research and higher education institutions and RTOs) are acting as innovation engines by fuelling startups and industries with new knowledge, technologies and skilled individuals. This potential can be nurtured with efficient intellectual management strategies and effective Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs). However, Europe’s potential of research valorisation is underutilised.

Currently, it is challenging for industrial actors to identify and access academic results that have potential for commercialisation. On the one hand, a relatively complex fragmented landscape of TTOs generates high transaction costs discouraging companies, especially startups from engaging in collaboration or accessing academic research for commercialisation. On the other hand, the lack of financial and non-financial incentives for academic researchers hampers their commitment. Indeed, in many cases, researchers cannot fully appropriate royalties from the licensing of intellectual assets and knowledge valorisation activities are not recognised for their career progression.

In this regard, the Draghi report^[1] recommends European universities/RTOs to adopt a more coordinated, commercialisation minded, and startup friendly intellectual asset management approach^[2].

Participating beneficiaries should engage in the following activities:

• adopting startup-friendly intellectual asset management strategies;
• accelerating the commercialisation of academic research results under fair and transparent conditions in an attractive way for innovative companies and investors, in particular for critical technology areas related to the EU’s economic security;
• reinforcing the adoption of best practices in intellectual asset management ^[3] including the equitable sharing of value generated in R&I activities;
• improving the support to researchers and students in commercialising research results;
• enhancing intellectual asset management practices by establishing portfolio approaches to market intellectual assets in package deals;
• facilitating the collaboration between researchers, startups and innovative companies.

More specifically, project participants should:

1. Identify and share best-practices developed to support knowledge valorisation ^[4];
2. On this basis, create a common set of tools for start-up friendly licensing/transfer ^[5] to be adapted to the specific national/regional context with templates, strategies, successful case studies and business models. The toolbox could include standardised rules and processes together with flexible and adaptable clauses to support negotiation, conclusion and implementation of licensing agreements;
3. Develop a common incentives and benefit-sharing model ensuring incentives for researchers and students to engage in commercialisation with a fair distribution of revenues from intellectual assets;
4. Test the licensing/transfer tools and benefit-sharing models by implementing at least three pilot cases with researchers or students engaging in commercialization activities.
5. The outcomes of these activities should enable to inform the further development of a blueprint for licensing, royalty- and revenue-sharing and equity participation for academic institutions and their inventors when commercialising IP and creating spinoffs^[6]. The blueprint should further support effective intellectual asset management and IPR negotiation and licensing practices across Europe.

The participation of innovation agencies and/or national and regional authorities that can help universities, research and higher education institutions or RTOs in adapting their intellectual asset management policy and implementation is encouraged. Beneficiaries should ensure to consult relevant stakeholders in particular startups and SMEs to carry out the action. They are also encouraged to leverage relevant complementary programmes such as the EIT Higher Education Initiative^[7].

[1] The future of European competitiveness – A competitiveness strategy for Europe

[2] For example, using virtual shares or licensing conditions that compensate the university/research and higher education instituion/RTO only at the time when sales/profits are made from the product or service that commercialises the IPR or when investors exit the company.

[3] As identified in the Code of Practice on the management of intellectual assets for knowledge valorisation in the European Research Area.

[4] Participants are encouraged to share their best practices in the repository of best practices of the Knowledge Valorisation Platform, amongst others.

[5] The project is encouraged to collaborate and build further where ever possible on results from other EU funded projects in the knowledge valorization domain. This includes in particular projects from calls HORIZON-CL4-2023-HUMAN-01-31 and HORIZON-CL4-2024-HUMAN-02-35.

[6] The creation of a dedicated blueprint is part of the Lab to Unicorn Initiative announced under the EU Startup and Scaleup strategy.

[7] EIT Higher Education Initiative