Brussels stakeholders debate whether “dual-use” should be embedded in EU research policy

Brussels stakeholders are questioning the need to implement the "dual-use" concept in European research policies.

During an event organised in Brussels by the European Association of Innovation Consultants (EAIC) on 02/12/2025, Manuel Heitor, Professor at the University of Lisbon and former Portuguese Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, said: "We don't need the concept of dual-use because we don’t know how to classify it."

Heitor was chair of the High-Level Group in charge of the mid-term evaluation of Horizon Europe, presented in October 2024. He explained that "modern science and modern technologies are dual in nature. In our expert report on the evaluation of the current Horizon Europe programme, we ask the Commission to avoid that term in any type of call for researchers, because it is an artificial division and we need dual-use in both ways. What we are missing in Europe is investing in more and better science."

Michiel Scheffer, President of the EIC, stated: "We already have in the EIC portfolio companies doing dual use, but it is not intended. Currently, that…