ERA Forum meets in Brussels to discuss upcoming legal acts

The implementation of ERA strategic policies and actions from the ERA Policy Agenda 2025-2027 has already started, and information is continuously being provided about its progress. At its 32nd meeting, the ERA Forum therefore focussed on the upcoming legal acts that aim at realising the fifth freedom, namely the European Innovation Act (EIA) and the ERA Act. The proposal for the EIA is scheduled for 18 March 2026, the proposal for the ERA Act is expected in September 2026. Both acts are supposed to be negotiated in the Research Working Party and will follow the ordinary legislative procedure (co-decision by Council and Parliament). It is expected that they will both take the form of Regulations, which means that their provisions will be binding and directly applicable in all Member States.

The update given by the Commission on the European Innovation Act was integrated in the first formal exchange between the EIC Forum, represented by Antonio Grilo (PT) and Celine McHugh (IE), and the ERA Forum. In conclusion from this exchange, it was agreed that closer and continuous interaction between these two fora will be sought in the future. This will be particularly relevant for the preparations/negotiations for, and the implementation, of the EIA and the ERA Act. In this context, the role of ERAC was also mentioned, since ERAC is the “European Research Area and Innovation Committee”. ERAC could also collaborate more closely with the EIC Forum, which is expected to become the “European Innovation Forum” as the EIA enters into force, thus building a stronger link between Research and Innovation at DG level.

The Commission presented the four building blocks of the upcoming EIA, which are:

1. simplified, more coordinated framework conditions for innovation;
2. access to public and private procurement markets;
3. access to research and technology infrastructures (RTIs), and
4. commercialisation of publicly funded research and innovation

With regard to the upcoming ERA Act, the focus of the discussion was on one of its expected key targets, namely greater alignment of R&I investments, policies and programmes between the EU and Member States, and between Member States. This topic had already been discussed previously on several occasions both by the ERA Forum and by ERAC. At the ERAC meeting in February 2025 in Brussels, the Austrian delegation had given a presentation on 'Leveraging the 90 - Proposal for a new European Research and Innovation Framework using Art. 184 TFEU' which contained ideas on a possible future governance and on using Article 184 TFEU for identified strategic priority areas. At its October 2025 plenary in Copenhagen, ERAC discussed the DARPA model as another potential model for priority setting and alignment in Europe ('Enabling Mission Impact: Funding Strategies for High-Risk High-Reward Innovation (Policy Working Paper)'). At the ERA Forum meeting on 26 February 2026, the Commission presented the responses from the public consultation on the ERA Act which showed strong support for advancing from the current status quo towards an effective mechanism for setting joint priorities and implementing them in a coordinated way. ERA Forum members broadly supported this claim. A possible conclusion from this discussion could be that if political will can be achieved, challenges in the national systems could be overcome. A governance structure for priority setting and a toolbox for the implementation could be created by the ERA Act. Concrete participation in the implementation of the priorities and the available tools would need to remain voluntary, following the principle of variable geometry.

The next steps in the preparation of the ERA Act are the finalisation of the impact assessment by March 2026, a presentation of the impact assessment to the regulatory scrutiny board in May 2026, and the Commission proposal to be put forward by September 2026. ERAC, ERA Forum and national actors will continue to be involved in the process.