07/09/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/09/2025 04:48
The Commission has launched a call for evidence and a public consultation, inviting all interested stakeholders to contribute to the future European Innovation Act. A key deliverable of the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy, the European Innovation Act will facilitate bringing innovative ideas to market across all sectors. It will aim to address challenges in commercialising research results, strengthen collaboration between the industry and the academia, and improve access of innovative companies to markets, finance, talent and infrastructures. It will also create a more innovation-friendly regulatory, policy and investment environment across the EU, to give European innovators the tools they need to grow and scale within the EU and compete globally.
The call for evidence together with the public consultation are open for contributions until 30 September 2025 on the Commission's 'Have your Say' portal.
Ekaterina Zaharieva, Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, said:
"We must create the best possible framework conditions for innovators, and give them the opportunities they need to Choose Europe for developing their products and solutions, thriving in the Single Market and turning into global players. We want to hear from innovators, businesses, investors, policymakers, researchers, universities, and all interested parties to build an ambitious and effective innovation framework that will delivers real results."
Furthermore, a call for evidence and a public consultation on the 28th Regime have been launched, focusing on the EU corporate legal framework and looking into other challenges faced by companies in areas such as access to finance, tax and labour law and insolvency. The Commission will propose a 28th legal regime in 2026, to make it possible for innovative companies to benefit from a single, harmonised set of EU-wide rules wherever they invest and operate in the Single Market, instead of facing 27 distinct legal regimes.
Europe produces high-quality research and innovation, but only a fraction transforms into successful market products. Key challenges include insufficient exploitation of intellectual property rights, gaps in standardisation and barriers that prevent universities and research organisations from adopting a more commercialisation-focused mindset. The use of intellectual property rights as collateral for financing also remains underutilised.
More agile innovation pathways are needed to pool EU, national and private investment, particularly for capital-intensive strategic technologies. Better coordination of national and EU innovation policies could maximise impact. Cutting excessive red tape and reducing fragmentation across the EU Single Market that hinders innovation deployment, are also essential.
At the same time, market access poses significant challenges for innovative companies seeking to grow in the EU market. Public and private procurement processes need to become more innovation friendly, while companies require better access to state-of-the-art testing facilities and regulatory sandboxes. Innovative companies also struggle to attract and retain talent, including through employee ownership schemes.
The European Innovation Act, one of the key legislative instruments for this mandate, will address the above challenges. It will cut red tape and create a simpler, more innovation-friendly regulatory environment and will improve access to finance, as well as to European research and technology infrastructures, intellectual assets generated by publicly funded research and innovation in view of increasing patenting, and regulatory sandboxes. This Act will give European innovators the tools they need to grow, scale, and compete globally.
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EC Spokesperson for Research, Science and Innovation