At a time when geopolitical instability, economic tensions, and environmental disruptions are growing,
At a time when science, although recognized as a common good and a universal right, is increasingly contested, instrumentalized, or called into question,
At a time when Europe faces an historic challenge to preserve its freedom, sovereignty, and competitiveness, or to accept a lasting decline in global competition,

We, academic stakeholders and private companies engaged in R&D, issue a solemn appeal to the decision-makers of the Member States and to the institutions of the European Union.
The decisions that will be taken in the coming months regarding the funding, architecture, and implementation of the future European framework programme (FP10) will durably shape Europe’s capacity to generate knowledge, to transform scientific excellence into innovation, and to assert its strategic sovereignty.
At a time when the Letta and Draghi reports explicitly call for research and innovation to be made a pillar of the European internal market – by adding a fifth freedom: the free circulation of research, innovation, and education – we collectively affirm that research and innovation constitute a fundamental pillar of our democracy, our economy, and our European project.
 

1.The European scale has become the precondition for effective research and innovation

 

No Member State has the critical mass needed to compete with the United States or China in strategic domains. The size and liquidity for funding and, then infrastructures required, the size of the markets and the global competition for talent make the European scale indispensable. Research and innovation can no longer be conceived as a mere aggregation of national efforts. They must be designed as a collective investment grounded in the pooling of risks and benefits, expertise, and infrastructures. They must be coordinated at the European level (through the orientation of public funding decided collectively and the support of private investments responding to the logic of European markets), in articulation with national strategies, and at the level of local scientific and entrepreneurial communities, as close as possible to research and innovation dynamics.

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We call for overcoming the purely accounting-based logic of “fair national return”. The benefits of European cooperation — industrial competitiveness, technological sovereignty, talent attractiveness, strategic resilience and knowledge production — must be measured over the long term and at the scale of the continent.

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2. Preserving and promoting academic freedom as a hallmark of European values

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Academic freedom is a defining feature of Europe’s singularity, a continent that is by its very nature a political space governed by the rule of law, the respect of individual liberties and pluralism: these values must apply to the practice of science and innovation and draw sustenance from them in return.

 

Academic freedom must be preserved not only as a major asset for scientific performance, but as a value in its own right, a defining marker of European identity, facing competitive models that are more constrained or more instrumentalised. Preserving scientific independence is fundamental to the sustainability of societies that rely on knowledge, innovation, and intellectual freedom; it also strengthens our competitiveness by providing an environment of trust and excellence for European industrial stakeholders.

 

Europe must champion a science that is free, rigorous and independent, capable of informing public policy, of advancing the ecological transition, public health, digital sovereignty and territorial and social cohesion.

 

The development of universities and research centers of European standing, globally recognized, underpinned by structured alliances built around areas of specialisation, is a powerful lever for attracting researchers, students and entrepreneurs from around the world who identify with these values.

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3. Strengthening the science continuum from fundamental research to innovation and industrialisation in the service of European competitiveness

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European competitiveness, in the short, medium and long term, rests on a robust, coherent and clearly articulated continuum spanning from fundamental research to innovation, and onward to industrialisation and market-scale deployment.

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In the long term, excellence-driven fundamental research constitutes the indispensable foundation of major discoveries, breakthrough innovations, and of European scientific and technological leadership. Today’s advances are the building blocks of tomorrow’s industrial competitiveness, growth, and employment.

 

In the medium term, collaborative research instruments covering the full range of maturity level are essential for translating scientific excellence into exploitable technologies, actionable knowledge and economic success. They secure critical transition stages and accelerate the valorisation of research outcomes in Europe.

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In the short term, the capacity to rapidly scale up to industrial production and market deployment is what determines the development and effective competitiveness of European companies in the face of intense global competition, particularly from the United States and Asia.

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In this perspective, we call for strengthening the alignment between the pillars of FP10, in particular between the ERC, collaborative programmes and the EIC, so as to streamline innovation pathways, reduce the gaps between research and the market, and provide better support for projects with high economic and strategic potential. Proper alignment between FP10 and the European Competitiveness Fund is equally indispensable to secure this research–innovation–deployment continuum, without compromising Europe’s capacity to generate scientific and technological breakthroughs.

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Co-funded public-private partnerships are in this regard a decisive lever. They provide a unique framework to share the risks inherent in the early stages of R&D, mobilise investment commensurate with the challenges at hand, promote skills mobility, and accelerate the transfer of knowledge into concrete industrial solutions in Europe. By enabling the faster transformation of scientific innovation into tangible economic value, they contribute directly to the competitiveness of the European Union. They are particularly critical in key sectors such as health, digital technologies, energy, agri-food, quantum technologies and semiconductors, where innovation cycles are long, costs are high, and global competition is intense.

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4. Making scientific and technological excellence a pillar of European sovereignty

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Europe’s strategic sovereignty is inseparable from its capacity to master critical technologies in the following domains: energy, health, agriculture and food, digital technologies, AI, biotechnologies, quantum, advanced materials, space and defence.

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This requires :

• shared research and computing infrastructures at the European scale;

• clear and multi-annual technology roadmaps;

• a better articulation between research, regulation and industrialization

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The European regulatory framework (data, AI, health, environment) must not be a source of constraint or a brake on innovation, but should be designed and adapted to become a competitive advantage, offering a predictable, secure, trust-enhancing and innovation-friendly market.

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5. Better aligning national and European strategies

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The performance of the European research system depends on strengthened coordination between national and European funding. Strategic alignment is today even more critical than the level of funding itself.

We call for :

• strengthening the coherence between national and European strategies;

• better supporting university alliances, cooperation between national research organizations, thematic consortia and public-private platforms;

• facilitating the movement of talent, data and expertise;

• accelerating the convergence of standards and the interoperability of infrastructures and data sharing.

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This alignment of national and European strategies must be achieved in a spirit of multilateralism, which is the bedrock of any European vision of research. In this regard, the present Paris-Saclay Appeal is an outstretched hand to all European stakeholders in their diversity who share these convictions and who stand ready to carry forward the process initiated here, within a broader framework of reflection and collaboration.

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A call to action

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Driven by these convictions, we call on European and national decision-makers to :

• support an ambitious and lasting increase in the resources allocated to European research and innovation;

• champion a framework for cooperation commensurate with the scientific, industrial and geopolitical challenges of our time;

• make research a fully-fledged European political project.

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Let us shape our future together, true to our values, resolved to build, through the excellence of research, the power of innovation and the quality of cooperation, a free, sovereign, competitive and forward-looking Europe.