ITRE Committee draft report on FP10

The European Parliament’s ITRE Committee recently published its draft report setting out their position on the future Framework Programme (FP10). This position once approved by the Committee and adopted in Plenary will form the basis of their position for inter-institutional negotiations.  

In accord with our recent position paper, the report calls for Horizon Europe to remain a fully self-standing programme with its own independent governance and programming, arguing that this autonomy is essential to ensure that European R&I policy continues to support scientific excellence and knowledge creation. Coordination with the European Competitiveness Fund is necessary but must not compromise Horizon’s bottom-up character or subordinate it to top-down sectoral agendas.  The Committee also calls for a €220 billion budget, in line with the Heitor expert group recommendation, as a meaningful signal of Europe’s ambition in global R&I. 

On governance and access, the EP draft report notes that Joint Undertaking-dominated implementation modes risk disproportionately excluding SMEs, not because SMEs lack capacity, but because JU governance structures tend to be organised around actors already operating at scale. It notes that improving SME accessibility is not only a participation target but a design question, and a key indicator of whether FP10’s governance is genuinely bottom-up.  

Finally, G!E is aligned with the Parliament’s call for an ARPA-style approach in Pillar 3 and a Fast Track to Excellence in Pillar 1. These instruments have the potential to reorient part of the programme toward high-risk, high-reward frontier innovation that could boost global competitiveness.