14 Sep 2026
EUA comments on European Innovation Act
The European University Association (EUA) has issued a statement on the European Commission's proposal for a European Innovation Act (EIA) which was presented on 9 September 2026. The EUA statement released on 14 September 2026 acknowledges that the EIA takes key actions on public procurement, but criticises that the EIA sidesteps careers, mobility and the unique role of universities.
The EUA hopes that the principles and procedures outlined for public procurement in the Act will enable public authorities to effectively procure a wide variety of innovative solutions, many of which originate from university-based innovators. At the same time, the association claims, the proposed regulation does not always live up to its goal of ‘strengthening the Union innovation ecosystem’, as stated in its title, by failing to leverage the full spectrum of elements that form the very core of such ecosystems. The EUA stresses that Europe needs a shared innovation culture that rewards the wide-ranging contributions of innovators through flexible, supportive career frameworks, citing two-way mobility of students and staff between companies and universities as an important tool. The EIA fails to address the administrative and regulatory barriers that still remain which hamper this process.
The association also criticises that a place-based approach to innovation is missing from the proposal, stating that such an approach can facilitate the crucial lifeline connecting innovative ideas and entrepreneurial staff and students at universities with the surrounding ecosystem of startups and scaleups. It is also critical of the lack of recognition of the role of universities as anchor institutions in local interactions. According to EUA, the European Innovation Act could have been a more substantial attempt to devise systemic measures in support of the transition from knowledge creation to commercialisation. The establishment of a competence centre for intellectual property-backed finance, as well as the development of a Union-wide IP valuation framework and a digital IP marketplace, are nevertheless welcome.
Finally, the EUA states that universities would benefit from guidance and examples, in order to upgrade their internal IP regulations so as to achieve the best outcomes in negotiations with investors and academic inventors. The EUA therefore calls for a clear articulation of the Innovation Act and the blueprint for IP licensing announced in the Startup and Scaleup Strategy.