This article gives a short EU policy contextualisation of “Industrial innovation for Open Strategic Autonomy – leaving no one and no place behind’’ followed by a digest of the results of CONCORDi 2023 conference (Oct. 24-26, 2023) on the same subject. It focusses on policy relevance, drawing on new scientific evidence, insights and recommendations highlighting some of the policy challenges ahead.
The content of this document – original for its comprehensive and new science-to-policy handling of the topic - reinforces the messages related to Open Strategic Autonomy of recent Communications of the Commission. Main highlights arising from this Brief are:
1) Industrial Innovation as a pillar of industrial policy is central to achieving Open Strategic Autonomy (OSA);
2) In pursuing OSA, social and territorial cohesion should be integrated into industrial innovation policy;
3) Institutional capacities as well as quality and good governance are crucial to OSA;
4) More research and cooperation between practitioners and scientists is needed to underpin and monitor OSA.