Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on ‘Communication from the Commission 
to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the 
Committee of the Regions — A new ERA for Research and Inno vation’
(COM(2020) 628 final)
(2021/C 220/11)
Rap porteur: Paul RÜBIG
Referral European Commission, 11.11.2020
Lega l basis Article 304 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
Section responsible Sing le Marke t, Production and Consump tion
Adopted in section 2.3.2021
Adopted at plenar y 24.3.2021
Plenar y session No 559
Outcome of vote
(for/ag ainst/abstent ions) 254/0/4
1.Conclusions and recommendations
1.1. The European Economic and Social Committe e (EESC) welcomes the new vision for, and the renewal of, the ERA 
agenda. The new ERA is not just ‘more of the same ’, but is a real ‘New Deal’ for the EU’s Research , Technology and 
Inno vation (RTI).
1.2. The EESC strong ly welcomes the focus on rapidly translating R&I results into sustainable business, as outlined in the 
document. Safeguarding a just transition process is one of the most imp ortant elements to ensure that R&I suppor ts the 
economy and emplo yment in the EU.
1.3. The EESC strong ly advocat es the need for new gover nance in the research area in order to remove administrative 
and regulator y barriers to innovation.
1.4. The EESC welcomes the fact that the new ERA document is overall in line with and suppor ts the UN Sustainable 
Development Goals (SDG). While foster ing the transition towards a more resilient European economy , an inclusive recovery 
leaving no European behind is essential in the process of moving towards a sustainable European economy (1).
1.5. The EESC would like to point out that an intellig ent blending of R&D instr uments at all levels (regional, national, 
global level, EU level) is imp ortant. R&D and innovation should be promot ed by making use of the large EU structural 
funds, too, as well as through direct and indirect measures (e.g. tax incentives) for R&D.
1.6. The EESC suggests that the following key sectors and technologies are vital for the prosper ity of the EU:
—Digital business models;
—Technologies for manufacturi ng goods and food;9.6.2021 EN Official Jour nal of the European Union C 220/79
(1) EESC proposals for post-CO VID-19 crisis reconstr uction and reco very: ‘The EU must be guided by the principle of being considered 
a community of common destiny’ (OJ C 311, 18.9.2020, p. 1), pt. 5.3.1.
—Clinical researc h, phar maceutical and biot echnological sector;
—Space technologies;
—Clean wate r and sanitation.
1.7. The EESC notes that research in the social sciences and humanities is very impor tant for the complex renewal of the 
ERA agenda.
1.8. The EESC would like to emphasise the fact that EU researc h lags behind in pate nt perf ormance. Asia has increased 
its share of global patent applications. In 2019, Asia submitted 65 % of global pate nt applications. Europe ’s share of patents 
has decreased and is now only 11,3 % of global pate nt applications.
1.9. Numerous studies have show n that the EU is lagging behind the US and Asia in entrepreneur ial culture. 
Entrepreneur ial culture needs to be addressed in education, including higher education. Entrepreneur ial culture shall 
theref ore be relevant throughout the whole process, from innovation in basic researc h and applied research to marke ting of 
a new technology .
1.10. The EIC and the EIT, with its KICs, are considered valuable partners and tools in this ‘acceleration of R&I 
translation’ and in redirecting the focus of the EU’s R&I towards the gene ration of breakthrough innovations that address 
concrete needs of citizens and business, particularly in relation to major societal challeng es. The EIC accelerator offers 
substantial EU funds for inno vative European start-ups with high growth potential, whereas the EIT by definition pursues 
research excellence for technology-push inno vations in its KICs; thus both the EIC and the EIT are impor tant partners 
regard ing the acceleration of R&I translation.
1.11. The EESC underlines the need to incor porate the principle of scientifi c and ethical integr ity, so as to prevent losses 
in terms of human health, mone y, and scientifi c failure.
1.12. Europe is especially lagging behind the US and Asia rega rding the speed of transf erring R&D results into 
inno vative products and services. Thus, the EESC encourage s the Commission to aim in its RTI policy on ‘excellence ’ as well 
as ‘speed’ at the same time.
1.13. The EESC suggest s that the European Commission should aim, in its new R&I strate gy, for well-balanced 
portfolios:
—of high-tec h industr ial production as well as service industr y R&D/R&I;
—mark et-pull inno vations (demand-dr iven inno vation) as well as technology-push innovations.
2.General comments
2.1. The EESC welcomes the fact that a new vision for and the renewal of the ERA agenda are key elements in the 
document. The document thus proves that the new ERA is not just ‘more of the same ’, but is a real ‘New Deal’ for the EU’s 
RTI. A key aspect of the ‘New Deal’ is the objective of massively increasing the imp act of inno vation on the economy and 
society . With this ‘New Deal’, the EU-27 is definitively committ ed to stopping the ongoing process of losing ground to 
China and South Korea in basic research as well as in applied researc h, pate nt applications, high-te ch products and services. 
The ‘New Deal’ aims to even better educate and train European citizens in all kinds of R&D, inno vation and 
entrepreneurship, and thus to fully unleash the inno vation powe r of European society .C 220/80 EN Official Jour nal of the European Union 9.6.2021
2.2. The EESC welcomes the approac h of the European Commission to increase the impact of inno vation on the 
economy and society . The EESC emphasises that organised civil society is a catalyst for social innovation. The participation 
of civil society is needed now more than ever — and true social inno vation only happens with when organised civil society 
is involved (2).
2.3. Asia, especially China and Korea, has massively imp roved its perf ormance in RTI within the last 20 years. China has 
not only increased its share of spending on R&D from 0,55 % (1995) to 2,2 % (2018), but has also outperfo rmed the EU in 
the total budg et spent on R&D, spending USD 496 billion in 2017, while the EU spent USD 430 billion. According to the 
2020 EU Industr ial R&D Investment Scoreboard, from 2018 to 2019, EU com panies increased R&D by 5,6 %, US 
compani es by 10,8 % and Chinese companies by 21,0 %.
2.4. The OECD’s Science, Technology and Industr y Scoreboard repor ts show , among other things, that the EU is 
especially lagging behind in digital service businesses and what are known as breakthrough technology-push innovations. 
The EESC advocat es a European path of digitalisation by seizing the oppor tunities for the economy while safeguarding 
societal values and fundamental rights. A human-centred focus in all Commission initiatives is very much welcome with a 
view to developing a European approach to progress (3).
2.5. Promoting the development of breakthrough inno vations (4) while safeguarding a just transition process is one of 
the key challenges in the near future.
2.6. The EESC fully suppor ts putting one clear focus on the Twin Transition, i.e. the Digital Transition and the Green 
Deal.
2.7. The EESC welcomes efforts to ensure that R&I results are rapidly translat ed into sustainable business. Safeguarding a 
just transition process, i.e. towards a greener/climat e-friendly Europe, a fair digital future, with respect for workers’ rights 
and positions, as outlined in the document, is one of the most imp ortant elements to ensure that R&I suppor ts the 
economy and emplo yment in the EU.
2.8. The EESC welcomes the fact that the new ERA document is overall in line with and suppor ts the SDGs. While 
foste ring the transition towards a more resilient European economy , an inclusive reco very leaving no European behind is 
essential in the process of moving towards a sustainable European economy (5).
2.9. The EESC would like to point out that an intelligent blending of R&D instr uments at all levels (regional, national 
level, EU level) is impor tant. R&D and inno vation should be promoted by making use of the large EU structural funds, too, 
as well as through direct and indirect measures (e.g. tax incentives) for R&D.
3.The European Research Area in a new context
3.1. As pointed out in our general comments, the EESC clearly think s that, if the EU’s RTI strategy remains ‘more of the 
same ’, it will continue to lose ground in the global RTI competition, especially against China, Korea and the USA.
3.2. The EESC underlines the need to incor porate the principle of scientifi c and ethical integr ity, so as to prevent losses 
in terms of human health, mone y, and scientifi c failure.
3.3. The EESC encourages the European Commission to design a ‘New Deal’ RTI agenda for the EU.9.6.2021 EN Official Jour nal of the European Union C 220/81
(2) EESC proposals for post-CO VID-19 crisis reconstr uction and reco very: ‘The EU must be guided by the principle of being considered 
a community of common destiny’ (OJ C 311, 18.9.2020, p. 1), pt. 6.8.
(3) OJ C 364, 28.10.2020, p. 101.
(4) Clayton M. Christensen, The Innovator ’s Dilemma — When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail, 2016.
(5) EESC proposals for post-CO VID-19 crisis reconstr uction and reco very: ‘The EU must be guided by the principle of being considered 
a community of common destiny’ (OJ C 311, 18.9.2020, p. 1), pt. 5.3.1.
3.4. State-of-the-ar t, efficiently managed R&I infrastr uctures are one imp ortant key issue for this acceleration of R&I 
translation.
3.5. The day-to-da y managem ent of these R&I infrastr uctures could be profe ssionalised in the EESC’s view . Utilisation of 
some of these expensive R&I infrastr uctures is relatively low: some have a utilisation of less than 25 % of annual working 
hours.
3.6. The EESC welcomes the EC’s Open Science Initiatives (EOSC).
3.7. The EESC agrees that the technologies mentioned in the document are very important, strategic key technologies for 
the EU, and proposes that the following key technologies and sectors be added:
—Digital business models;
—Technologies for manufacturi ng goods and food;
—Clinical researc h, phar maceutical and biot echnological sector;
—Space technologies;
—Clean wate r and sanitation.
3.8. Digital business models are currently the fastest growing businesses in the globe and will continue to be in the years 
to come. One just has to look at e-commerce (e.g. Amazon), Industr y 4.0, e-banking, e-ga ming, digital social networks (e.g. 
Facebook), e-secur ity, etc.
3.9. The EESC notes that research in the social sciences and humanities is very impor tant for the complex renewal of the 
ERA agenda.
3.10. The EESC notes that EU research lags behind in pate nt perfor mance. Asia has increased its share of global pate nt 
applications. In 2019, Asia submitted 65 % of global pate nt applications. Europe ’s share of patents has decreased and is 
now 11,3 % of global pate nt applications.
3.11. Other imp ortant R&I topi cs include (but are not limited to) manufa ctur ing of goods (whic h has alwa ys been and 
still is a stronghold of the EU), IT, software and AI, and medium tech.
3.12. Most of the jobs within the EU still are in medium tech (whic h, similarly , has alwa ys been a stronghold of the EU). 
High tech is of course important, but there is a lot of growth pote ntial and job pote ntial in medium tech too.
3.13. The corona virus crisis is a severe challenge for mankind and all possible measures should be taken to develop 
vaccines and treatments for COVID-19. This crisis has exposed several issues that need to be addressed to prevent similar 
pandemics in the future, not least as regards our relationship with the natural world and animals. European R&I must play 
an important role in identifying, researchi ng and solving those issues. On the other hand, the crisis should not be the only 
guideline for the EU’s long-term R&I strategy .
3.14. Numerous studies have show n that the EU is lagging behind the US and Asia in entrepreneur ial culture. 
Entrepreneur ial culture needs to be addressed in education, including higher education. Entrepreneur ial culture shall 
theref ore be relevant throughout the whole process, from innovation in basic researc h and applied research to marke ting of 
a new technology . Entrepreneur ial culture must be a key comp etence in all of the EU’s RTI and thus, of course, in the new 
ERA too.C 220/82 EN Official Jour nal of the European Union 9.6.2021
4.The vision: a stronger European Research Area for the future
4.1. The communication devo tes a number of paragraphs to new common technology roadmaps, a New Industr ial 
Strate gy and key future technologies for the Commission. The EESC, again, would like to point out that all these topics need 
to be seen in close connection with the SDGs. In other words, R&D needs to be pushed in particular within the new ERA 
and common technology roadmaps, where any of the 17 areas of the SDGs can be suppor ted. The EESC is convince d that a 
constr uctive social and civic dialogue at all levels will contr ibut e to a successful imp lementation of the strategy .
4.2. The EESC appreciates the strengthening of RTI cooperation within the EU. Any EU Member State alone is simply 
too small to comp ete with the large research nations such as the USA or China. The individual Member States lack 
‘economies of scale’, which are very imp ortant especially for large breakthrough inno vations. Europe’ s achievements in 
science and technology have been significant and research and development efforts form an integral part of the European 
economy . Europe has been the home of some of the most prominent researchers in various scientifi c disciplines, notably 
physics , mathematics, chemistr y and engineer ing. Scientif ic researc h in Europe is suppor ted by industr y, by the European 
universities and by several scientific institutions. The output from European scientific research consiste ntly ranks among the 
world’s best. While cooperation is one key element in efficient inno vation to generate new products and services, 
competition is the major driving force for inno vation in the global economy . Thus the EESC recommends a well-balanced 
portfolio of cooperation as well as comp etition between the Member States in the EU’s ‘New Deal’ for RTI.
4.3. The EIC and the EIT with its KICs, are considered valuable partners and tools in this ‘acceleration of R&I translation’ 
and in redirecting the focus of the EU’s R&I towards the generation of breakthrough innovations that address concrete 
needs of citizens and business, particularly in relation to major societal challeng es.
5.Translating R&I results into the economy
5.1. The communication states that ‘The EU is lagging behind its main global competit ors in business R&D intensity , in 
particular in high-te ch sectors, and in scaling-up inno vative SMEs with nega tive effects on productivity and comp etitiveness. 
(…) Unloc king investment in inno vation in business, services as well as in the public sector is critical to reversing this trend, 
as well as to reinf orce Europe’ s industr ial and technological sovereignty . The EU needs to mak e full use of its excellent 
research and innovation results to suppor t the green and digital transition of the EU economy’ . The EESC shares this 
position, but wants to stress that the digital transition in particular needs a responsible RTI approac h. The EESC reiterat es its 
full suppor t for the EU’s strategy of seeking trustw orthy and human-centr ic artificial intelligence (AI), and reiterat es its call 
for a ‘human-in-command’ approach to AI, as called for since its first opinion on AI in 2017 (6).
5.2. Europe is especially lagging behind the US and Asia rega rding the speed of transf erring R&D results into inno vative 
products and services. Thus, the EESC encourage s the Commission to aim in its RTI policy on ‘excellence ’ as well as ‘speed’ 
at the same time.
5.3. The EESC certainly recognises that the communication acknowledg es that R&I translation into viable products and 
the chain of inno vation need attention . How ever , most actions and measures proposed in the document still focus on the 
input side of the chain of innovation (higher education, researc h careers for talented people, more money for public and 
basic research, etc.).
5.4. The EESC encourage s the Commission to aim for a well-balanced equilibr ium between focusing on the input side of 
the chain of inno vation and the output side.
5.5. The EESC encourages the Commission to further stimulate market-pull inno vations by, for exam ple:
—promoting lead user concepts;
—investing in syste matic social inno vation studies to anticipat e early appreciation and acceptance of new products and 
services by society .9.6.2021 EN Official Jour nal of the European Union C 220/83
(6) OJ C 288, 31.8.2017, p. 1.
6.Service indust ries
6.1. Industr ial production processes can be highly auto mated, such that they can produce very high batc h sizes with a 
small share of labour costs and globally comp etitive production costs, even with Europe’ s high hourly wag es. Regarding 
service industr ies, this situation is more comp licated . Digital service business models, too, can be highly automat ed. 
Services to individuals, like hair -cutting, massage s, etc., howe ver, cannot be automa ted. For all these reasons, the EU would 
be well advised to aim, in its new R&I strate gy, for a well balanced portfolio of high-te ch industr ial production and service 
industr ies.
7.Deepening the Framewo rk for Research Careers
7.1. The EESC welcomes the measures proposed in the communication to enhance the technological and scientific 
excellence and the mobility of young researchers, but encourag es the Commission to step up measures rega rding enhancing 
the entrepreneurship of young researchers and inno vators as well. This would include better career prospects for researc hers 
as well as higher salar ies, especially for researchers at the beginning of their careers. Further more, connecting universities 
with economic entities to ensure the transf ormation of inno vation into marke table products seems to be fruitful. The EESC 
proposes establishing a sing le regist er of EU researchers and innovat ors with basic profe ssional research data to connect EU 
researchers and inno vators more closely .
7.2. Key compet ences and key inno vative cultures, new learning and teac hing technologies, personalised training.
7.2.1. The EESC would once again like to point out that it is not only key strate gic technologies that are very imp ortant, 
but that key compet ences of emplo yees and inno vative cultures within all EU enter prises are also very imp ortant if the EU is 
to prosper .
7.2.2. The followi ng element is especially imp ortant for the new ERA agenda, the new R&I agenda and the new ‘Pact for 
Research and Inno vation in Europe’: foster ing an inno vative culture and a culture of entrepreneurship within EU 
enterprises, for the management as well as for all emplo yees, for example by offer ing appropr iate training courses, etc. to 
emp loyees.
8.Citizens’ engagement
8.1. The EESC agrees with the statement in the communication that ‘The engagement of citizens, local communities and 
civil society will be at the core of the new ERA to achieve great er societal impact and increased trust in science ’. The EESC 
explains its suppor t for the European Commission’s approac h which is based on the idea that ‘research organisations and 
industr y should involve citizens in technology choices ’.
8.2. The social partners and civil society organisations such as consumer organisations, NGOs, etc. should be involved as 
active partners in European R&I processes and projects, in particular when the research affects or impacts the people or 
cause they represent. Involving these partners at an early stage will promot e engagement, understanding, owner ship and 
accep tance of the innovation, and suppor t the just transition processes that are necessar y, especially for breakthrough 
inno vations. It will also help researchers understand the imp act of their inno vations on society at large and help them 
address potential nega tive imp acts at an early stage in the process. For this reason, the EESC has also been calling for a 
multidisciplinar y approach in certain research areas, where there is an imp act on multiple researc h areas. One of these areas 
is again AI, where the EESC has been calling for the involvement of the humanities, law, economics, ethics, psychology , etc. 
in the R&I of AI, beyond the mere technical element (7).
8.3. The EU’s economy relies heavily on expor ts of its goods and services.
8.4. Technology choices should thus be based on EU citizens ’ prefer ences for goods and services, but also on those of the 
rest of the 7,8 billion people in the world. The EESC calls on the Commission to particularly promote R&I in reac hing the 
UN SDGs.C 220/84 EN Official Jour nal of the European Union 9.6.2021
(7) OJ C 288, 31.8.2017, p. 1.
8.5. As point ed out in our general comments, the imp ortance of RTI needs to be better communicate d to politicians, the 
media and society .
8.6. It is theref ore also imp ortant to develop smar t means and strategies for communicating the importance of RTI, but 
also its results, in the cont ext of the communication and the new EU RTI strategy .
9.Governance of the new ERA
9.1. The EESC agrees that a transparent monito ring syste m (ERA Scoreboard) will be essential in order to monitor the 
EU’s perform ance in the global RTI comp etition. The EESC advocat es the need for new gover nance in the research area in 
order to remove administrative and regulat ory barriers to inno vation.
Brussels, 24 Marc h 2021.
The President  
of the European Economic and Social Committee
Christa SCHW ENG 9.6.2021 EN Official Jour nal of the European Union C 220/85