How did EU funding boost research and innovation during the 2014-2020 period? A new ex post evaluation by the European Commission provides the answers — and Visionary Analytics was proud to contribute the evidence and analysis that helped shape it.
This spotlight presents key findings on Research, Technological Development and Innovation (RTDI) — a central pillar of ERDF support aimed at strengthening regional competitiveness.
The challenge: bridging Europe’s innovation gap
At the start of the period, many regions faced persistent challenges in their innovation ecosystems, including limited access to finance, weak links between research and industry, skills gaps, and barriers to commercialising innovation. These challenges contributed to ongoing disparities in innovation performance across EU regions. These challenges were compounded by major transitions, including recovery from the financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and accelerating green and digital agendas. All of which reinforced the need for more targeted and place-based innovation policies.
The response: a strategic and place-based approach to innovation
A key feature of this period was the implementation of Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3). This ex-ante conditionality guided regions in identifying priority areas for investment based on their existing strengths and potential. The approach contributed to more targeted investments, with a significant share of RTDI operations aligned with S3 priorities, particularly in areas such as ICT, Industry 4.0, health and life sciences, and the bioeconomy.
Support was delivered through a mix of instruments, with the largest share (over 74%) directed towards funding for RTDI projects. This was followed by:
- Investments in research infrastructure (15% of expenditure),
- ‘Soft support’ measures (5%) to strengthen collaboration and innovation capacity.
The vast majority of support (over 90%) was provided through non-repayable grants, which proved best suited for high-risk, early-stage research. Financial instruments were used more selectively, mainly to support SMEs during the later, closer-to-market phases of innovation.
Key findings
- ERDF support made a significant contribution to Europe’s research and innovation landscape, including:
- over 138,000 scientific publications,
- more than 7,000 patents building on ERDF-supported knowledge,
- and collaboration between 75,500 enterprises and research institutions.
- Where applied effectively, the S3 framework successfully helped align investments with regional strengths. It enabled more strategic allocation of funding and supported the development of regional innovation ecosystems, particularly where strategies were clearly defined and focused. However, the evaluation found that S3’s success is conditional on proper design. In some cases, overly broad funding calls weakened prioritisation, and strategies that did not reflect underlying regional economic or technological specialisations delivered weaker results. This suggests that future efforts should focus on sharper prioritisation and better policy engineering of S3-related calls.
- Enterprise research support and science–industry collaboration were among the strongest-performing instruments, although there remains scope to strengthen collaboration further: by end-2022, ERDF instruments had supported over 75,500 enterprises collaborating with research institutions, exceeding the target by 115%, while most beneficiary publications came from collaborative RDI projects. At the same time, around 75% of RTDI funding still went to sole beneficiaries, suggesting scope for deeper collaboration.
Key challenges and lessons learned
Despite the successes, the evaluation highlights key areas for improvement:
- Persistent regional disparities: Innovation performance remains uneven across regions, with more developed regions achieving stronger results in terms of research outputs and participation in EU-level programmes.
- Limited synergies with Horizon 2020: Although complementarities between ERDF and Horizon 2020 were identified, synergies were not systematically developed. Administrative complexity, differences in programme design and limited coordination constrained the full potential of combined funding.
- Administrative and implementation barriers: Implementation was affected by administrative complexity, limited capacity and external shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. These factors contributed to delays, particularly for infrastructure investments.
- From outputs to long-term impact: While outputs such as publications and patents are significant, systemic impacts (such as sustained improvements in regional competitiveness) are less clear and may take longer to materialise.
Looking ahead: strengthening RTDI support
The findings from ERDF RTDI highlight the need for a more systemic and coordinated approach to innovation support in future cohesion policy.
Key priorities include:
- reinforcing Smart Specialisation Strategies with clearer prioritisation,
- strengthening synergies between EU, national and regional funding,
- improving coordination with programmes such as Horizon Europe,
- and supporting the full innovation cycle, including knowledge valorisation and access to finance.
Further efforts are also needed to strengthen technology transfer, collaboration and talent development, ensuring that all regions can benefit from innovation-driven growth.
As Europe seeks to enhance its competitiveness and technological leadership, well-targeted RTDI investments will remain essential for long-term, inclusive development across regions.
Read the full evaluation here!
