The Insider, Season 2, Episode 9

“Applied Sciences at the Crossroads: Polytechnics, Place-Based Innovation, and Europe's Competitiveness Future”

Europe is entering a new phase in how it thinks about research, innovation and competitiveness.

New instruments are being designed, new priorities are emerging, and the pressure to deliver impact is stronger than ever.

But, as these discussions unfold, one question remains largely in the background: What place is left for the institutions that already sit closest to application, skills and regional innovation?

In this episode of The Insider, host Ricardo Miguéis speaks with John Edwards (Secretary General of EURASHE) to explore the role of applied sciences universities, polytechnics and university colleges in Europe’s evolving R&I landscape.

Drawing on decades of experience at the intersection of higher education and policy, John reflects on how this part of the system has developed, how it is positioned in Brussels today, and why its contribution is often underestimated in debates that tend to focus on research-intensive universities and large industry.

Part 1 - The role of applied sciences in Europe's innovation system

The conversation begins with a closer look at what applied higher education institutions actually are, and what distinguishes them.

Far from being a secondary layer of the system, these institutions play a specific role: they connect education, applied research, innovation and service to society, often within tightly embedded regional ecosystems.

John reflects on the evolution of this sector across Europe, the tensions around identity and recognition, and the risks that come with trying to fit a diverse landscape into a single model of “excellence”.

A key thread running through this part of the discussion is the idea of the four missions of higher education; and the challenge of making them work together in practice, in a policy environment where funding and instruments are still largely fragmented.

Part 2 - What's at stake in FP10, ECF and the future of place-based innovation

The second part of the episode moves into the current policy moment. As negotiations around FP10 and the European Competitiveness Fund progress, the design choices being made now will shape who participates in Europe’s R&I system, and on what terms.

The discussion explores concerns around the declining visibility of Smart Specialisation and the potential weakening of the regional dimension in the next Multiannual Financial Framework, as well as the implications of new governance models for applied HEIs.

John also reflects on EURASHE’s position in the broader debate on FP10 and ECF, including the importance of maintaining a system that recognises different institutional roles rather than converging towards a single model.

At its core, the episode raises a simple but critical question:

If Europe wants to strengthen its competitiveness, is it making full use of the institutions that are already closest to delivering it?

Listen to Episode 9: “Applied Sciences at the Crossroads: Polytechnics, Place-Based Innovation, and Europe's Competitiveness Future” on The Insider.

The Insider, Season 2, Episode 8

“From Wall Street to Science|Business: Richard Hudson on the Past, Present and Future of R&I”

Research and innovation policy rarely develops in isolation. It evolves alongside markets, institutions, and the broader geopolitical environment shaping how knowledge, technology and investment move across borders.

In this episode of The Insider,, host Ricardo Miguéis (Head of the INESC Brussels HUB) speaks with Richard Hudson, co-founder of Science|Business and one of the most experienced observers of Europe’s research and innovation ecosystem.

Before launching Science|Business in 2004, Hudson spent 25 years at the Wall Street Journal, including as Managing Editor of its European edition. Since then, he has helped build one of the most influential platforms connecting universities, companies and policymakers across Europe’s R&I landscape.

Drawing on that experience, the conversation reflects on four decades of watching European research policy evolve; from the early days of the Framework Programmes to today’s increasingly complex geopolitical context.

Part 1 - Institutions, ecosystems and the evolution of European R&I

The first part of the conversation explores the long arc of Europe’s research and innovation system.

Hudson reflects on the early years of the Framework Programmes, when European collaboration in research was still a relatively new experiment. Over time, these programmes grew into one of the EU’s most distinctive policy instruments (bringing together universities, industry and governments around shared technological challenges).

The discussion also revisits the origins of Science|Business itself. What began as a journalism project evolved into a network connecting three communities that often struggle to speak the same language: researchers, policymakers and industry leaders.

This perspective offers a unique lens on how innovation ecosystems actually function; not only through funding instruments and policy frameworks, but through relationships, trust and shared spaces where ideas and partnerships can emerge.

Part 2 - Geopolitics, trust and the future of global research cooperation

The second part of the episode turns to the present moment, where the context surrounding research and innovation is becoming increasingly shaped by geopolitical dynamics.

From technological competition to debates about strategic autonomy, the environment in which science operates is shifting. Questions about trust, international collaboration and the balance between openness and security are becoming central to research policy discussions.

Hudson reflects on what these changes might mean for Europe’s role in the global research system. As alliances evolve and scientific cooperation becomes more complex, the challenge is not only about funding or programmes, but about maintaining the networks and communities that make international collaboration possible in the first place.

Across the conversation, one idea stands out: science progresses not only through discovery, but through the connections that allow knowledge, talent and investment to circulate.

In a more fragmented world, those connections may be more important than ever.

Listen to Episode 8: “From Wall Street to Science|Business: Richard Hudson on the Past, Present and Future of R&I” on The Insider.

The Insider, Season 2, Episode 7

"The Legal Argument Brussels Doesn't Want to Hear"

Europe is redesigning its research and innovation architecture. FP10, the European Competitiveness Fund, defence research, dual use, competitiveness and security are all being pulled into the same conversation, and often treated as if the only question is how fast we can move.

But there is a more fundamental question underneath it all: Are we still operating within the limits of EU law?

In this episode of The Insider, host Ricardo Miguéis (INESC Brussels HUB) speaks with Prof. Kurt Deketelaere, one of Europe’s leading legal minds in research governance, about the issue almost no one in Brussels wants to confront: the legal validity of how defence research is being embedded into FP10 and the proposed European Competitiveness Fund (ECF).

FP10, the ECF, and a governance problem hiding in plain sight

Kurt explains why many universities and research organisations fear that, as currently drafted, FP10 risks becoming subordinate to the ECF. He discusses the joint statement issued by seven major university and research networks, and why they argue for two principles that must hold in the next cycle:

• Autonomy of FP10 and the ECF
• A clear interface that connects excellence to competitiveness (without merging them or placing one under the other)

The metaphor he uses is simple but powerful: FP10 as the generator of excellent science and talent; the ECF as the amplifier that scales it where Europe has a strategic interest.

The legal line: when a fund becomes a “specific programme”

Then the conversation goes where policy debates rarely go: into the treaty articles that determine who decides what.

Kurt lays out, in accessible terms, why he believes using the ECF regulation as the specific programme for FP10’s defence research might violate the EU’s “centre of gravity” principle; and why building a €125 billion line on shaky legal ground is a risk Europe cannot afford to ignore.

This is the “legal argument Brussels doesn’t want to hear”: not sensational, but deeply structural because it forces Parliament, Council and Commission to confront how far they are prepared to stretch the treaties in the name of speed and strategic autonomy.

Dual-use, safeguards, and Europe’s identity

The conversation also touches on one of the most difficult questions in today’s research landscape: the growing blur between civilian, dual-use and defence technologies. Kurt emphasises the importance of:

• Clear definitions
• Transparent flagging of dual-use calls
• Guarantees that researchers are not pushed toward militarised framing
• A firm separation between dual-use and deliberate defence research

What is EU-level R&I actually for?

The episode closes with the foundational question: what should EU-level research funding achieve?

Kurt brings it back to the treaties: Europe’s R&I mission is both to generate new knowledge and to strengthen its competitiveness. The challenge isn’t excellence (Europe has plenty). The challenge is turning excellence into impact, without sacrificing academic freedom, legal certainty, or the institutional safeguards built after the crises of the 20th century.

If you want to understand not just the proposals on the table, but what they mean for Europe’s long-term governance, legality and strategic direction, this episode offers a unique, unfiltered view from inside the debate.

Listen to Episode 7: “The Legal Argument Brussels Doesn’t Want to Hear” on The Insider.