On 18 March, the European Commission is expected to present a Regulation on Innovation, aimed at simplifying the regulatory framework and facilitating access for European start-ups and scale-ups to venture capital, as well as providing support for testing activities, notably through the creation of dedicated environments for this purpose, and enabling new solutions and technologies to reach the market.

The EU Competitiveness Compass identified the future Regulation on Innovation as one of the key initiatives needed to close the innovation gap between the EU and its global competitors, one of the three transformation imperatives required to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness.

According to this document, the European Innovation Regulation should also facilitate innovative companies’ access to European research and technology infrastructures and to intellectual assets generated by the publicly funded research and innovation sector.

This Regulation is expected to build on previous initiatives aimed at strengthening Europe’s innovation landscape, notably the 2022 New European Innovation Agenda, while also responding to the 2024 European Council conclusions calling for the integration of public procurement for innovative solutions into research and innovation policies. It should also address the repeated calls from European Union leaders — expressed, for example, in the 2024 Budapest Declaration on the New European Competitiveness Deal — to unlock the full potential of the EU Single Market.

The issues that may be addressed by this new Regulation include:

• regulatory fragmentation;

• the need to create more innovation-friendly regulatory frameworks;

• lack of opportunities to test innovative solutions;

• limited access to financing;

• insufficient commercialisation;

• limited access to research and technology infrastructures;

• underuse of public procurement for innovative solutions;

• difficulties in attracting and retaining top talent;

• lack of coordination of innovation policies.

The objective of the Regulation will therefore be to promote and accelerate the deployment and diffusion of innovative solutions and to create a level playing field conducive to innovation, so that innovative companies — including SMEs, start-ups and scale-ups — can grow within the EU Single Market.

To achieve these objectives, the following types of intervention are being considered:

• simplifying and making the current regulatory framework more innovation-friendly;

• facilitating innovative companies’ access to financing;

• supporting innovative companies’ access to national and EU funding;

• helping innovative companies develop and test their innovations;

• facilitating the deployment and diffusion of innovative solutions in the market;

• enabling innovative companies to attract and retain talent more effectively;

• creating a framework that facilitates coordination between different innovation policies.

When assessing the impact of the Regulation, the Commission will consider a range of policy measures that may contribute to achieving the objectives outlined above.

Our team remains at your disposal should you require further information.