New European Commission takes office

On 1 December 2024, the new Collège of European Commissioners took office. The first meeting of the new Collège is due to take place on 4 December. The European Commission website provides an overview of all new Commissioners and their responsibilities here (an overview for download in pdf format is provided below).

The new Commissioner for Start-ups, Research and Innovation is Ekaterina Zaharieva from Bulgaria. Her responsibilities include:

• expanding the European Innovation Council and the European Research Council;
• proposing a European Research Area Act to guarantee the free movement of researchers, scientific knowledge and technology;
• developing a long-term strategy to boost European Research Infrastructure and a European Innovation Act to streamline the EU's regulatory framework and facilitate access to venture capital; 
• developing ways to support EU start- and scale-ups and creating a network of Trusted Investors to bring together deep tech investors across Europe;
• preparing a new Strategy for European Life Sciences to unlock high-value technologies;
• working on an Advanced Materials Act to support the research and innovation process through to manufacturing and deployment;
• increasing the uptake of artificial intelligence by European scientists and helping to set up a European AI Research Council;
• implementing and overseeing the funding from EU research and innovation programmes, such as Horizon Europe, as well as the EU Missions.

For more information:

EC website for Commissioner Zaharieva