FP10: Commission outlines future approach to European Partnerships

The webinar “Shaping FP10: State of Play & Preparation by the European Commission” was organised by key European research, development and innovation stakeholder organisations on 2 June 2026 and brought together representatives from the research and innovation community for an exchange with the European Commission on the state of play of FP10 preparations. Pauline Rouch, Director of the Common Policy Centre at DG Research and Innovation, presented the European Commission’s current thinking on the next EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. The discussion offered important insights for the European Partnership community, in particular on simplification, portfolio-building and the future role of Partnerships in FP10.

The recording of the webinar is available on YouTube. 

According to the recording, European Partnerships were one of the three main topics addressed in the Commission presentation, alongside governance and simplification. Pauline Rouch underlined that European Partnerships are expected to remain an important element of the future Framework Programme. At the same time, the Commission proposal aims to simplify the current landscape and streamline the models and instruments available.

According to the Commission, future European Partnerships should be selected and implemented according to six core principles:

• EU added value and necessity,
• strategic coordination,
• policy alignment,
• a portfolio approach and competitive selection,
• shared commitment, and 
• a life-cycle approach. 

This means that Partnerships should be used where they are clearly the most suitable instrument to achieve jointly agreed objectives and where they support key EU priorities.

A stronger portfolio approach is expected to play a central role. Rather than considering each Partnership area in isolation, future Partnership priorities should be assessed in a broader strategic context. The Commission explained that the portfolio-building process would start from a wide range of possible themes, including the existing Partnership landscape, and then group them into wider areas of interest. The objective is to arrive at a more coherent and streamlined Partnership landscape.

The Commission also outlined a simplified toolbox for future Partnerships. Joint Undertakings under Article 187 TFEU and Article 185 Partnerships would remain possible, but only in exceptional and duly justified cases. For most Partnerships, the default instrument would be a work-programme-based model integrating elements of today’s co-programmed and co-funded Partnerships.

Another important aspect is the proposal that Partnerships should, by default, be tripartite. This would bring together the EU, Member States and private or other stakeholders, supporting joint programming, joint funding and joint implementation across the research and innovation value chain.

The discussion also highlighted several open questions for the webinar participants. Stakeholders raised concerns about the concept of tangible contributions, in particular whether this would imply a stronger emphasis on cash contributions from industry and other partners. The Commission clarified that in-kind contributions are not excluded, while also stressing the importance of credible, long-term commitments from all partners.

Another key point was the future timing and life cycle of partnerships. The Commission aims to align Partnerships more closely with the Multiannual Financial Framework cycle to avoid them continuing across several Framework Programme cycles without a clear renewal or exit strategy. The preference is not to create new Partnerships mid-way through the MFF, but rather to enlarge or adapt the scope of existing Partnerships where needed. The Commission also aims for Partnerships to be up and running in the first year of the next programme.

The webinar also addressed the relationship between Horizon Europe and the proposed European Competitiveness Fund. Partnerships could potentially serve as a bridge between research and innovation activities and later-stage development, deployment and investment-oriented actions. The Commission indicated that future work programmes could include complementary calls financed through different budget lines, depending on the objectives and maturity of the activities.

For Member States and Partnership communities, national co-funding remains a central issue. Participants noted that pressure on national budgets could affect future commitments to Joint Undertakings and other Partnership activities. The Commission confirmed that this is part of the ongoing discussion with Member States and pointed to the need to make synergies with national and regional partnership plans, cohesion funding and other instruments more accessible.

While this summarises the European Commission's current plans for European Partnerships under FP10, negotiations with the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union are ongoing, so further changes and additions are expected. ERA-LEARN plans to keep you updated on recent developments in this area.