I would like to entrust you with the role of Commissioner for Start-Ups, Research and Innovation. Europe's competitiveness and its position in the race for a clean and digital economy will require putting research and innovation, science and technology at the heart of our economy.
This will lead to more investment and collaboration, the right conditions for researchers to flourish and develop new skills, and a clearer focus on the most important innovations needed for our competitiveness, security and sustainability goals.
This is clear from the letter of the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen to Ekaterina Zaharieva.
You will play a critical role in this ambition, driving the EU's scientific and technological progress - from fundamental research to applied innovation. Research and innovation must become an increasing part of our competitive advantage in today's global economy.
You will create the conditions for researchers and innovators to flourish. You will focus on ground-breaking basic research and breakthrough innovation, particularly in strategic areas, as well as scientific excellence. To achieve this goal, you will work to expand the European Innovation Council (EIC) and the European Research Council.
You will propose a European Research Area Act to guarantee the "fifth freedom", namely the free movement of researchers, scientific knowledge and technology.
The aim will be to reduce the fragmentation of research and anchor innovation and research in the single market and unlock more of its potential.
I would like you to prioritize foundations that promote knowledge and innovation, in particular through a long-term strategy to promote European research infrastructure, with the aim of creating a pan-European ecosystem of research infrastructures and services.
I would like you to focus on supporting the next generation of researchers and help strengthen and stimulate collaboration between academic, private and public organizations to create attractive career prospects. As part of this you will support work to strengthen our university unions.
The application and implementation of innovations are important for competitiveness. You will work on a European Innovation Act to streamline our regulatory framework, facilitate access to venture capital for European innovative start-ups and large-scale companies, supporting them in testing and deploying new solutions and technologies.
I would like you to develop an EU strategy for start-ups and scale-ups that improves the framework conditions for start-ups and scale-ups.
As part of your work to expand the EIC, you are helping to create a network of trusted investors to bring together deep technology investors from across Europe to encourage co-investment with the EIC Fund and more knowledge, expertise and funding for growing deep tech startups.
You will lead the preparation of a new multidisciplinary strategy for European life sciences to unlock high-value technologies to support green and digital transitions. You will contribute to the EU Biotechnology Act and the updated Bioeconomy Strategy.
Reflecting the growing importance and demand for advanced materials to support the competitiveness of European industries and the twin green and digital transitions, you will work on the Advanced Materials Act to support the research and innovation process through to manufacturing and deployment.
You will propose a strategy to increase the uptake of Al by European scientists and help establish a European Al Research Council where we can pool all our resources.
I would like you to work to strengthen our research security. As you promote the development of critical technologies and their deployment in the European Union, you will be mindful of the need to protect the economic security of our Union while partnering with like-minded partners to achieve common goals.
In this context, you will contribute to the work of identifying and exploiting the EU's dual-use and civil-military potential.
I would like you to lead the work to strengthen international cooperation in research and innovation to better address the EU's dependencies in strategic sectors, while promoting our values and principles. You will work to identify collaboration partners in critical technology areas, in particular through Global Gateway projects.
You will lead the implementation and monitor the allocation of funding from EU research and innovation programs such as "Horizon Europe" and you will ensure that these resources are used effectively to achieve the highest standards of scholarly excellence and impact.
You will work intensively to further simplify access to finance, especially for innovative SMEs and small mid-caps. As part of this task, you will strengthen our efforts to ensure that the EU's missions reach their targets by 2030 and that all the tools of our framework programmes, such as the Joint Undertakings, are used to their full potential.
You will contribute to the further development of the "New European Bauhaus", focusing in particular on innovation and bio-based materials.
You will typically work under the direction of the Executive Vice President of Prosperity and Industrial Strategy. You will also work under the direction of the Executive Vice President for Technology Sovereignty, Security and Democracy on matters related to technology sovereignty.
Directorate-General for Innovation and Research, Collaborative Research. A start-up center and working group will support you in your work.
The way forward
The actions listed in this letter will shape your work. However, we will need to complete and adapt as we go forward, and I rely on your ideas and expertise in this regard.
In addition to College meetings and our ongoing discussions, I will invite you every six months to a structured debriefing meeting to discuss progress and challenges in fulfilling your mission.
Reflecting the changing nature of political priorities, the Commission must remain flexible in deploying staff where it is most needed.
I look forward to you playing a collegial role in this, working to identify efficiencies and contributing to corporate redirection efforts in the Commission.
Given the scale of the challenges and the many problems, we need to start working on day one. I invite you to contact your future employees to prepare your hearing and the work ahead. I look forward to working closely together for Europe.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ursula von der Leyen
President of the European Commission