European competitiveness: for an ambitious investment in research and engineering

The Competitiveness Compass published by the European Commission highlights the urgent need to strengthen the Union's industrial and technological sovereignty. In this context, the Conference of Deans of French Schools of Engineering (CDEFI) wishes to emphasise the crucial importance of the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10), which will play a decisive role in achieving these objectives.

The French engineering schools reaffirm that Europe's competitiveness depends first and foremost on massive and structuring investment in research and engineering. However, the resources allocated to engineers, scientists and higher education and research establishments are currently insufficient to meet the challenges of the green transition, digitisation and reindustrialisation.
We therefore call on the European Union to match its ambitions with commensurate financial commitments, in particular by:

• Guaranteeing a budget of at least €200 billion for FP10, to ensure that high-quality research projects are not side-lined for lack of funding.
• Making European funding, which is still too complex for many institutions and researchers, clearer and more accessible.
• Establishing a European programme dedicated to engineering research, which is essential for responding to industrial and environmental transitions.

We acknowledge the European Commission's desire to structure a Union of Skills, which emphasises investment in training, lifelong learning and the recognition of qualifications. Similarly, we welcome the ambition to work on a strategic plan for STEM education, which is a cornerstone of innovation and European competitiveness.

Engineering schools play a key role in these dynamics, by training the talents who will be at the heart of industrial and technological transitions. We will therefore make sure that these initiatives are translated into concrete measures, commensurate with the needs in engineering and innovation. Europe will not be able to fulfil its ambitions without clear support for scientific and technical training.

CDEFI will continue its engagement with the European institutions to ensure that engineering schools and their graduates can fully contribute to the sovereignty and competitiveness of the Union.