EU research and innovation: 28 industry leaders call for ambitious funding programmes

Today, 28 leaders of large multinational companies in Europe published a statement showing their full support to scale up ambition for the next flagship EU research and innovation funding programme (FP9).

“We stand behind a strong and far reaching FP9 and look forward to a constructive and fruitful debate with the EU policy-makers”, the statement says.

The signatories from various sectors and countries are the Chief Executive Officers and leaders of:

Alcoa Corporation, BASF SE, BAYER AG, Robert BOSCH GmbH, EDF, ENGIE, Eni, GE Europe, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, IBM Europe, INEOS Group AG, Infineon Technologies AG, Lhoist Group, Marcegaglia Steel S.p.A., Metsä Group, MYTILINEOS S.A., Norsk Hydro ASA, Philips, Salzgitter AG, Siemens AG, Solvay SA, Statoil ASA, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Veolia Environnement, voestalpine AG, Volvo Group, Wienerberger AG.

BusinessEurope Director General Markus J. Beyrer commented: “Today’s statement is a strong signal that EU research and innovation funding programmes are decisive in financing projects with clear EU-added value. At the same time, it shows that commitment from companies is indispensable to make these programmes a success. The ongoing discussion on the next EU budget and structure of the FP9 is a window of opportunity to scale up the budget for research and innovation, to strengthen the collaborative approach and to overcome the innovation deficit in Europe.”

For additional information, please check here:

• CEO statement
• More EU innovation should lead to more EU business success, video with Pascal Lamy