Calling for a complementary approach to FP10 and the European Competitiveness Fund – joint statement by The Guild, LERU, UNICA, EASSH, and ISE

03 July 2025 | From UNICA - From partners - Funding

The Guild and the League of European Research Universities (LERU), supported by UNICA, EASSH – European Alliance for Social Sciences and Humanities, and Initiative for Science in Europe, have released a joint statement advising the European Commission to develop the FP10 and the ECF as two clearly distinct EU instruments, both legally and financially. While maintaining strong complementarity, the FP10 should focus on funding R&I, while the ECF should facilitate deployment and deployment of R&I activities.

The statement starts by welcoming the idea that Research and Innovation (R&I) must be at the heart of Europe’s economy, a vision reaffirmed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. However, the group of organisations warn against reducing R&I policy to a tool for industrial policy objectives alone, defending that R&I delivers a broader values: strengthening Europe’s scientific leadership, generating new knowledge, and addressing complex societal challenges.

The recommendations to the European Commission include:

• Establishing clear links between FP10 and the ECF, including through challenge managers with strategic expertise
• Preserving the bottom-up, curiosity-driven nature of the European Research Council (ERC), Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), and the European Innovation Council (EIC)
• Reinforcing funding for pre-competitive, collaborative R&I in FP10
• Ensuring the inclusion of all disciplinary perspectives, including the social sciences and humanities, to better address complex societal challenges.