In August 2025, the European Commission published a call for feedback on a European Research Area Act. EURASHE submitted a response, which you can read below.
The goal of this initiative by the Commission is “to improve the general environment for generating innovation, reducing fragmentation and boosting the EU’s competitiveness… strengthen[ing] R&D investment and bring[ing] it up to the 3% GDP target. [The initiative] will focus research support more on strategic priorities, strengthen alignment between the EU and Member States’ funding priorities, and promote the free movement of knowledge and talent across Europe.
EURASHE’s response:
EURASHE welcomes the European Commission’s initiative to adopt the European Research Area (ERA) Act in 2026. Strengthening the EU’s research and innovation (R&I) ecosystems and enabling the free movement of researchers, knowledge, and technology within the single market is essential to Europe’s economy.
Universities of Applied Sciences and similar institutions or university departments are key drivers for the integration of R&I across Europe’s regions. They are strongly embedded within regional innovation ecosystems and cooperate intensely with their local authorities and industries. They can help the ERA to develop excellence everywhere, as well as an integrated and inclusive approach to knowledge circulation and valorisation.
We strongly support the introduction of legally binding measures that promote all types of research, from basic to applied and practice-based. In this context, the ERA Act should work in synergy with the proposed European Innovation Act. This includes the Startup and Scaleup strategy, in which both knowledge creation and application will be essential for European competitiveness.
EURASHE welcomes the creation of a fifth freedom within the single market based on geographical and intersectoral mobility of knowledge. This is crucial to avoid fragmentation and build pan-European research and innovation ecosystems. It should be noted that this was the rationale for Smart Specialisation when the ERA was first conceived, and there are now around 200 Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) at national, regional and local levels. It is crucial that such strategies are interconnected to allow for the development of value chains and address critical priorities for the European economy, absorb new technologies, as well as respond to societal challenges.
In order for the fifth freedom to function effectively, the ERA Act should ensure that knowledge and technological development is not overly concentrated in core cities and regions. Europe needs all its research and innovation engines to compete globally. Divergence within the European single market was the reason for the establishment of a Cohesion Policy and the freedom of movement in knowledge may exacerbate regional inequalities if not properly addressed at EU level. Crucially, this cannot be done by regional funds alone and centrally managed programmes including Horizon Europe will have to invest heavily in connecting regional innovation ecosystems.
Furthermore, the negative consequences of increased spatial inequalities in knowledge are not only economic: Left behind places in the knowledge economy are increasingly voting for populist and anti-European political parties. EURASHE therefore welcomes the intention to better align investments and policies by structuring investments around strategic priorities between the EU and Member States, and across Member States. EURASHE believes that regional disparities should be addressed in these strategic priorities, particularly by including regional indicators in the ERA Monitoring Mechanism (EMM). The Research & Innovation and Cohesion Managing Authorities Network (RIMA) should play a central role in coordinating dialogue on aligning current and future initiatives and funding mechanisms, including Horizon Europe, the Competitiveness Fund and Cohesion Policy. Finally, the ERA must be closely tied to the European Education Area and its support for transnational cooperation.
EURASHE and its members stand ready to contribute to the further design and consequently the implementation of this key legislative initiative.
In line with EURASHE’s response, the Former Minister of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands and President-Elect of the International Science Council, Robert Dijkgraaf, argued that for the ERA Act to be a success, every region can contribute through smart specialisation. The ERA Act should have a broad view of what research and innovation is in the European Union.
Watch Robert Dijkgraaf’s intervention at the European Research & Innovation Days in Brussels on 17 September 2025:
For more information, you may access our response on the European Commission’s ‘Have Your Say’ website.
