The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has welcomed the European Commission’s work on the upcoming EU Innovation Act, describing it as an ambitious step toward boosting Europe’s innovation capacity and global competitiveness
Following the Commission’s call for evidence and public consultation in July 2025, the EIT has published its official statement outlining key priorities for a more connected, inclusive, and investment-ready European innovation landscape.
Europe’s innovation ambitions
The main part of the EU Startup and Scale-up Strategy, the EU innovation act aims to help innovative ideas reach markets faster by addressing long-standing barriers, such as fragmented markets, limited financing for intangible assets, and slow technology adoption.
Since its creation in 2008, the EIT has supported thousands of startups, scale-ups, and innovation projects through its nine Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs). The Institute views the EU innovation act as an opportunity to make Europe’s innovation framework more globally competitive, sustainable, and inclusive.
Removing barriers
Scaling up innovations across Europe remains confusing and costly. The EIT stresses that simpler, innovation-friendly rules are essential to overcome this challenge. It supports measures such as mutual recognition of pilot projects, the use of regulatory sandboxes, and potentially a Single Market passport for validated innovative solutions.
The EIT also calls for regulations that enable rather than restrict innovation. This includes systematically assessing the impact of new regulations on innovation and exploring an EU-wide framework to facilitate cross-border testing and scaling. Other than removing obstacles, the EU innovation act should foster conditions that enable European firms to grow into global technology leaders.
While Europe has a strong base of startups and scale-ups, too few achieve global success. The EIT believes that better coordination between EU funding instruments and greater access to long-term, patient capital can help ambitious ventures scale within Europe and compete internationally.
Financing the economy
Many of Europe’s most promising firms rely on intangible assets like intellectual property, data, and skills, but financing systems often still favour physical collateral.
The EIT proposes developing standardised methods for valuing intangible assets in collaboration with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO).
By aligning EU funding tools, such as the EIT, the European Innovation Council (EIC), the European Investment Fund (EIF), and InvestEU, with these standards, startups and scale-ups could gain better access to capital and reduce financial uncertainty.
Public procurement accounts for around 14% of EU GDP, but it remains an underused lever for innovation. The EIT encourages the Innovation Act to promote outcome-based procurement and make it easier for startups and small companies to access markets. Innovation-friendly procurement rules could turn public investment into a powerful driver of industrial innovation and technology transfer.
A more inclusive innovation landscape
Despite Europe’s strong research base, innovation remains unevenly distributed across regions. The EIT emphasises that the Innovation Act must promote regional balance, diversity, and inclusion. Through its Regional Innovation Scheme (RIS), the EIT offers proven tools to help innovators in widening countries access EU and global markets, ensuring no region is left behind in Europe’s innovation transition.
By reducing cross-border barriers, improving financing for intangible assets, and harnessing public procurement to stimulate demand, the EU Innovation Act can accelerate the transformation of Europe’s scientific excellence into real-world impact.
