Europe must make strategic choices to strengthen scientific excellence, Maria Leptin says

News Tank Academic - Brussels - News #455723 - Published on 02/10/26 at 15:24
©  D.R.
Dominique Foray, Amanda Crowfoot, Maria Leptin and Nicolás Robinson García - ©  D.R.

The President of the European Research Council (ERC) said Europe should avoid seeking excellence in every country and field and instead concentrate EU resources where they can generate the greatest added value.

During a round-table discussion organised by the European Commission as part of the presentation of the European Commission's 2026 Science, Research and Innovation Performance of the EU (SRIP) report on 01/10/2026, Maria Leptin, the President of the ERC, said: "It cannot be that every country must be excellent in everything... It's much more important that we pull together."

Leptin took the example of collaborative programmes and said that if funding was distributed across very large networks of partners, the amount reaching each participant could become too small to make a…

©  D.R.
Dominique Foray, Amanda Crowfoot, Maria Leptin and Nicolás Robinson García - ©  D.R.

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