Securing Europe’s Technological Leadership: The Competitiveness Fund and Horizon Europe’s Next Chapter

Date and time: 15 October 2025 16.00-17.45 pm, followed by mingle with refreshments 
Venue: Permanent Representation of Sweden to the EU, Square de Meeûs 30, 1000 Brussels

Europe stands at a critical juncture to secure its technological leadership – and thus the European Union’s competitiveness

We are therefore pleased to invite you to an exclusive high-level seminar exploring how Europe can realise its ambition of a globally competitive industry and secure technological leadership through deeper industry engagement. 

Important proposals are on the table: the framework program for research and innovation and the competitiveness fund. This pivotal event will bring together senior leaders from industry, investment companies, the European Commission, Member States, academia, research institutes and regions to engage in a constructive conversation grounded in real-world industrial perspectives on how to best make sure that these instrument contribute to Europe’s competitiveness through cooperation between industry, academia and other stakeholders. 

Europe needs to get better at turning cutting-edge research into real products and scaling them.  Sweden, EU’s innovation leaders, with its strong tradition of integrating research, innovation, and industrial policy offers valuable insights on how to mobilise private investment and build industrial capacity. The seminar will explore how Europe can strengthen key technological value chains, accelerate scale-up capacity, and shape a future-proof industrial policy, with industry as an active co-creator.

Key questions to be addressed include how to:
• Promote innovation and scaling up of new technologies in Europe
• Attract private investments and strengthen industrial engagement
• Create synergies between national and European ecosystems
• Ensure favourable conditions to influence and participate in the new EU structures maximising impact

The seminar will also mark the launch of the Forum for Industrial and Technology Policy - Tech It Further -  a new platform for dialogue and collaboration between industry, research and policymakers. The Forum is backed by key actors including Technology Industries of Sweden (Teknikföretagen), RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden), University Alliance Stockholm Trio (Karolinska Institutet, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University), FAM AB, and the Stockholm Region EU Office - in collaboration with the Permanent Representation of Sweden to the EU.