The Insider, Season 2, Episode 4 “A 2026 Deep Dive with Muriel Attané” Europe enters 2026 with a strong inheritance in research and innovation. Well-established frameworks, mature institutions, and a long-standing reputation for scientific excellence continue to underpin its global position. But the year ahead will test something more demanding: Europe’s ability to act strategically in a context shaped by geopolitical pressure, industrial competition, and accelerating technological change. In this episode of The Insider, Ricardo Miguéis is joined by Muriel Attané, Secretary General of EARTO, for a wide-ranging conversation on where Europe’s research and innovation system stands, and the choices now taking shape beneath the surface. Part 1 – Looking at Europe from the outside The discussion deliberately starts beyond Europe’s own policy debates. Drawing on Muriel’s recent international engagements, including in South Korea and Canada, the episode explores how Europe is perceived as a research and technology partner, and how global actors assess its reliability, speed, and strategic clarity. The conversation looks at how international collaboration is evolving in a more politicised environment, where research, technology and geopolitics are increasingly intertwined. It also examines what external partners read into Europe’s current discussions around FP10 and the European Competitiveness Fund, and how those signals shape expectations about Europe’s future role. This first part focuses on positioning and perception: where Europe inspires confidence, where questions arise, and why credibility, coordination and clarity matter as much as formal frameworks. Part 2 – FP10, competitiveness and the capacity to deliver The second part turns inward, shifting from perspective to analysis. Rather than revisiting familiar reform narratives, the discussion looks at the quieter dynamics inherited from 2025: mounting pressure for speed and scale, changing governance patterns, and growing questions about institutional readiness. A central focus is the evolving relationship between FP10 and the European Competitiveness Fund. Beyond funding volumes or programme architecture, the conversation examines steering capacity, governance choices, and the challenge of aligning instruments, actors and timelines in a system under strain. Throughout the episode, Research and Technology organisations (RTOs) emerge as key, if often understated, actors. Positioned at the interface between research, industry, and policy, they are increasingly called upon to help translate ambition into action, coordinate across ecosystems, and respond at speed to shifting priorities. Rather than offering predictions, the episode closes with a set of questions that will define the years ahead: how Europe chooses to govern its innovation system, where it is willing to prioritise, and how long difficult decisions can be deferred without consequence. Rather than offering predictions, the episode closes by identifying the issues that will decisively shape Europe’s trajectory in the years ahead — and the risks of postponing difficult decisions. Listen to “A 2026 Deep Dive with Muriel Attané” — — — References: During the episode, Ricardo Miguéis refers to two books that help frame the discussion around state capacity, innovation and long-term competitiveness. For listeners interested in exploring these ideas further, the references are listed below: How to Make an Entrepreneurial State: Why Innovation Needs Bureaucracy Kattel, R., Drechsler, W., & Karo, E. (2022). Yale University Press. How Progress Ends: Technology, Innovation, and the Fate of Nations Frey, C. B. (2025). Princeton University Press.
