Monday, 23 June 2025 (afternoon)
Fondation Universitaire, Brussels
Europe is caught in the so-called “mid-tech trap”, with companies focusing more on established technologies, and an overall declining share in global corporate R&D.
The objective of this workshop is to examine ways to improve the innovation performance of European firms and escape the mid-tech trap in the light of the Competitiveness Compass, which envisages to close the innovation gap with the EU's main competitors by increasing private sector innovation investment. The Commission is monitoring more than 85% of global private R&D funding.
The workshop targets an audience of around 60 experts from industry (top R&D investors, startups, business associations), think tanks and the research community (academics and researchers, universities, Research and Technology Organisations, Technology Transfer Offices), as well as Commission services and government officials. Via the open and in-person discussions of such trends and developments, this workshop will seek to develop policy implications.
Two main streams of discussion are tackled. First, current evidence on the performance of innovative European firms and identification of main trends and bottlenecks will show to what extent Europe is locked in the mid-tech trap. Second, policy implications will be derived in order to show how to escape the mid-tech trap.
The summary report and presentations can be downloaded below.