European Partnership Stakeholder Forum 2025 - Key Takeaways available
ERA-LEARN and the European Commission jointly organised this fourth edition of the European Partnership Stakeholder Forum on 3 December 2025 in Brussels. First key takeaways are now available. A detailed report will follow shortly.
Broad consensus emerged from the Partnership Stakeholder Forum 2025 that European Partnerships remain a vital instrument for addressing complex challenges that no single country can tackle alone, but that they must evolve significantly (be re-imagined) under FP10 to remain effective, credible and impactful. There is strong agreement that the current partnership landscape remains complex and fragmented, requiring strategic prioritisation, streamlining and a shift towards a more coherent and deliberately designed portfolio aligned with clear political objectives, particularly competitiveness, resilience, sustainability and societal well-being. The proposed FP10 approach emphasises a portfolio logic with harmonised rules, simplified implementation, stronger coordination with other EU instruments and clearer impact pathways, while preserving flexibility and inclusiveness. Member States, Associated Countries, industry, regions and widening countries broadly support this direction but stress that the success of reform depends on transparency, predictability, early and meaningful involvement of stakeholders, and careful governance design. Across all perspectives, there is a shared insistence that partnerships must demonstrate real additionality, not only through scientific and technological outputs but also by changing behaviours, mobilising investments and strengthening ecosystems.
The preliminary views of the independent Expert Group reinforce this by framing partnerships as a collective organisational system requiring deliberate transformation rather than piecemeal adjustment, proposing alternative change scenarios and identifying critical mass, trust, learning and strategic robustness as key premises. Overall, the message carried into FP10 negotiations is that by drawing on lessons learned from Horizon Europe 2021-2027 and the community its shared ideas and experiences, the objective is to have a streamlined portfolio and 're-imagine' partnerships as strategic collaborative infrastructures that are leaner, faster, and more effective, ensuring they serve as major drivers of EU competitiveness and resilience capable of delivering real results for Europe’s citizens in an increasingly competitive global context.
Download the Key Takeaways from the European Partnership Stakeholder Forum 2025 (PDF)