18 Jan 2022
Commission publishes a toolkit to help mitigate foreign interference in research and innovation
On 18 January 2022, the Commission published a toolkit on how to mitigate foreign interference in research and innovation. The publication outlines best practices to support EU Higher Education Institutions and Research Performing Organisations in safeguarding their fundamental values, including academic freedom, integrity and institutional autonomy, as well as to protect their staff, students, research findings and assets.
International networks of academic and technological cooperation play an essential role in finding solutions to our global challenges. At the same time, the expansion of activities involves a number of risks and challenges that research and innovation actors must take into account.
Today’s publication provides a toolkit that can help EU Higher Education Institutions and Research Performing Organisations to develop a comprehensive strategy for tackling risks and challenges from abroad that covers key areas of attention grouped into four categories: values, governance, partnerships and cybersecurity.
The non-exhaustive list of possible mitigation measures can help R&I actors develop a comprehensive approach to tackling foreign interference that can comprise four phases: awareness-raising, prevention, response and recovery, ensuring a balance between risk reduction and resilience enhancement while ensuring effective response and recovery capabilities.
The publication is co-created with Member States and research and innovation stakeholders and contributes to the European Research Area Policy Agenda action on academic freedom.
As set out in the Communication ‘The Global Approach to R&I’, the EU pursues a positive agenda of partnership dealing with differences in a constructive way.