The Guild calls for quality and strategic alignment in future EU Partnerships

Following the European Research Area and Innovation Committee meeting on 12–13 October, The Guild has published a statement on European Partnerships under FP10. The network urges for research quality and strategic alignment to guide the selection of European Partnerships under the next Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. The Guild welcomes Member States’ support for continuing Global Health EDCTP3, EuroHPC and the Innovative Health Initiative (IHI).

The Guild argues that partnership selection should reflect FP10’s proposed award criteria: excellence, impact, and the quality and efficiency of implementation. Partnerships must also demonstrate European added value and alignment with EU strategic priorities. It warns that grouping partnerships by theme alone could weaken successful governance models, dilute shared objectives and undermine partners’ confidence in future investment.

The Guild recommends keeping EDCTP as a standalone joint undertaking, highlighting its equitable African-European governance and contribution to the AU–EU Innovation Agenda and Global Gateway.

It also calls for preserving IHI’s distinctive public-private model, which connects research with patient needs and commercialisation. The European Competitiveness Fund should support scaling up IHI innovations through quality-based expert evaluation.

For The Guild, research quality and strategic relevance must be assessed together—not treated as alternatives.

The statement can be downloaded here:

The Guild