Mattias Björnmalm and Manuel Heitor urge European leaders to invest in technological capabilities

Europe must back its technological ambitions with sustained investment, Mattias Björnmalm and Manuel Heitor argue in a joint opinion article published in Research Europe.

Their call coincides with the CESAER Annual Meetings 2026 in Lisbon, held under the theme “Critical technologies for Europe: From excellence to capability”. António Costa, President of the European Council, opens the high-level conference at Instituto Superior Técnico on 22 October.

Björnmalm, Secretary General of CESAER, and Heitor, Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico and former Portuguese minister, highlight the European Innovation Council’s latest Pathfinder Open results: just 43 of 2,103 proposals were selected, a success rate of 2%.

While acknowledging that application numbers alone do not demonstrate quality, they question whether Europe’s research and innovation programmes have sufficient resources to deliver political ambitions.

Against successive reductions in proposed EU funding, the authors urge national leaders to reverse the cuts and secure at least €200 billion for FP10, the next research and innovation framework programme. The independent expert group chaired by Heitor recommended €220 billion.

They argue that cross-border cooperation and continent-wide competition build capabilities that national funding alone cannot replicate. Adequate investment is also essential to the credibility of “Choose Europe”: attracting outstanding researchers must be matched by realistic opportunities to pursue their ideas.