Open letter
A call to strengthen research and innovation in Europe
Organisations that wish to sign the open letter, please send an email to info@research-matters.eu.
4 June 2024
In a world of major environmental, societal, and geopolitical crises, it is imperative that Europe invests in its future. Investing in our knowledge capital is the foundation for Europe’s competitiveness, wellbeing, and peace.
We need urgent solutions to address the complex challenges facing our societies: Climate change, AI, cybersecurity, environmental and energy crises, threats to democracy and security, pandemics, among others. Developing and enhancing excellent research and innovation with a long-term, multidisciplinary, and cross- sectoral perspective is key to our future.
In recent years, North America and Asia have massively ramped up their investments, leaving Europe behind. To remain competitive and advance the economic, ecological, and societal transitions, European countries and the EU must boost their research and innovation funding.
With the ResearchMatters campaign, leading research, and innovation (R&I) organisations urge Finance Ministers of European countries, and the European Council, Commission and Parliament, to act boldly and:
- Push funding for research and development in Europe through the achievement of over 3% of the GDP within the European Union and all European countries.
- Double the budget for the EU’s next research & innovation programme (FP10) to reach 200 billion
- Protect the latter by ringfencing the budget.
Together, these measures are critical to provide Europe with strategies to cope with current and future geopolitical and societal challenges. By increasing investments in knowledge creation, research, and research- driven innovation, we are investing in the very future of Europe and its people. In this campaign, we urge the European institutions and all European countries, national and regional policymakers, the whole research and innovation community, society, and the media, to join our quest.
The time to act is now! Let’s get our act together and build a bright future for Europe. Read about the campaign and stories on the benefits of R&I on: research-matters.eu.
If you’re interested in signing this initiative, please send us an e-mail at info@research-matters.eu.
Sincerely,
Signing organisations:
International organisations
Academia Europaea
ALLEA (All European Academies) – signed 4 June 2024
CESAER (Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research) – signed 4 June 2024
Coimbra Group Universities – signed 4 June 2024
DSW (Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung) – signed 7 June 2024
EARMA (European Association of Research Managers and Administrators) – signed 4 June 2024
EASSH (European Alliance for Social Sciences and Humanities) – signed 4 June 2024
ECIU (European Consortium of Innovative Universities) – signed 4 June 2024
EERA (European Energy Research Alliance) – signed 4 June 2024
EIBIR (European Institute for Biomedical Imaging Research) – signed 4 July 2024
EOSC Association – signed 4 June 2024
EUA (European University Association) – signed 4 June 2024
EU-LIFE (Alliance of independent European research institutes in the life science) – signed 4 June 2024
EURASHE (European Association for Applied Sciences in Higher Education) – signed 11 July 2024
Eurodoc – signed 4 June 2024
EuroTech Universities Alliance – signed 4 June 2024
EUPRIO (European Association of Communication Professionals in Higher Education) – campaign host
ERT (European Round Table for Industry) – signed 12 June 2024
FEAM (Federation of European Academies of Medicine) – signed 4 June 2024
LERU (League of European Research Universities) – signed 4 June 2024
Moral Diplomat – signed 4 June 2024
Marie Curie Alumni Association – signed 20 February 2025
Science Europe – signed 4 June 2024
SPARC Europe – signed 11 November 2024
UAS4EUROPE – signed 4 June 2024
The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities – signed 4 June 2024
ISE (Initiative for Science in Europe) – signed 4 June 2024
ICoRSA (The International Consortium of Research Staff Associations) – signed 9 April 2025
UNICA (Network of the Universities from the Capitals of Europe) – signed September 2025
UnILiON (Universities Informal Liasion Offices Network) – signed 4 June 2024
YERUN (Young European Research Universities Network) – signed 4 June 2024
Young Academy of Europe – signed 4 June 2024
European University Alliances
AURORA universities – signed 27 August 2024
National organisations
ARCES – France – signed 4 June 2024
EffiSciences – France – signed 27 June 2024
IIMCB – International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw, Poland – signed 4 July 2024
Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, Latvia – signed 10 July 2024
Slovak Rectors Conference – signed 25 July 2024
Slovenian Forestry Institute, Slovenia – signed 5 June 2024
Study in Greece – Greece – signed 8 July 2024
Swiss National Science Foundation – Switzerland – signed 4 June 2024
Universities Austria – signed 31 October 2024
Universities of Applied Sciences, UASNL, The Netherlands – signed 19 November 2024
Universities of the Netherlands, UNL – signed 9 October 2024
VARIO, the Flemish Advisory Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Belgium – signed 4 July 2024
Universities
Charles University, Czechia – signed 27 June 2024
Coventry University, United Kingdom – signed 6 June 2024
Ghent University, Belgium – signed 26 June 2024
Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands – signed 4 June 2024
ETH Zurich, Switzerland, signed 12 July 2024
Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany – signed 18 June 2024
Graz University of Technology, Austria – signed 11 July 2024
Hanken School of Economics, Finland – signed 4 June 2024
Heidelberg University, Germany – signed 24 July 2024
Karolinska Institutet, Sweden – signed 10 July 2024
KU Leuven, Belgium – signed 5 July 2024
Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Finland – signed 5 June 2024
Marche Polytechnic University (UNIVPM), Ancona, Italy – signed 01 October 2024
The Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria – signed 15 July 2024
Politecnico di Torino, Italy – signed 4 June 2024
Presov University, Slovakia – signed 25 June 2024
Université Paris-Saclay, France – signed 4 July 2024
University College Cork, Ireland – signed 7 January 2025
The University of Aveiro, Portugal – signed 5 June 2024
The University of Barcelona, Spain – signed 12 July 2024
The University of Bergen, Norway – signed 4 June 2024
The University of Bologna, Italy – signed 3 July 2024
The University of Bristol, United Kingdom – signed 8 October 2024
The University of Coimbra, Portugal – signed 4 June 2024
The University of Helsinki, Finland – signed 5 July 2024
The University of Innsbruck, Austria – signed 18 July 2024
The University of Latvia, Latvia – signed 20 December 2024
The University of Padua, Italy – signed 18 September 2024
The University of Twente, The Netherlands – signed 14 June 2024
The University of Tartu, Estonia – signed 18 December 2024
The University of Zurich, Switzerland – signed 8 July 2024
Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin, Ireland – signed 20 September 2024
TU Wien, Austria – signed 21 June 2024
Uppsala University, Sweden – signed 11 June 2024
Utrecht University, The Netherlands – signed 8 July 2024
Vetmeduni, Austria – signed 1 August 2024
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands – signed 22 October 2024
Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium – signed 4 June 2024