R&D and Innovation

Innovation has always been at the heart of Europe’s technology industries. And now, in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution, European industries have the opportunity of becoming global leaders in advanced manufacturing, by combining operational technologies (OT) and information technologies (IT) to create breakthrough innovations that enable the emergence of new business models that support the green and digital transformations.

A cornerstone of this innovative strength is applied industrial research and development (R&D). Applied research puts the insights of basic scientific research into practice in a real-world setting – accelerating commercialisation and bringing innovation closer to citizens. At the same time, it boosts the competitiveness of Europe’s technology companies globally while reinforcing the high-value-added industrial ecosystem that makes Europe a prosperous, high-salary region.

This is why the focus of Orgalim’s work in this area is on ensuring that EU R&D&I programmes such as Horizon Europe prioritise funding for applied industrial research and strengthen collaboration between academia and industry. By supporting the development of new technologies and the growth of advanced manufacturing here in Europe, EU funding can grow companies’ competitiveness and help Europe’s industries achieve global leadership in key future arenas.

Scroll down for an overview of our advocacy work in this area - and click here to view all Orgalim position papers on R&D and innovation.

R&D&I strategies

Innovation is fundamental to the business strategy of many tech firms, with most of the growth in Europe’s technology industries stemming from the innovative products, processes and systems that our companies develop here in the EU and commercialise worldwide. R&D&I in our sectors takes many forms: companies can carry out research in-house or through contracted projects, or they can participate in collaborative projects with universities, research institutes or other companies and start-ups. Orgalim promotes these connections across domains and sectors, as it is the diversity of R&D&I strategies that makes for such a rich innovation eco-system within the EU. 

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R&D&I strategies

EU funding programmes

Orgalim is a strong supporter of the EU’s R&D&I policy and funding programmes such as Horizon Europe. We firmly believe that by focusing on funding for applied industrial research, these programmes can make a long-term investment in the future of Europe that will underpin broader goals of growing employment and economic prosperity. We promote policies to increase public-private R&D&I cooperation and research commercialisation, as we are convinced that these hold the key to boosting innovation and competitiveness overall.

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