Mind the gaps

The holes in the EU’s approach to research are more evident than ever

The gulf between the EU’s research ambitions and the money available through its flagship research and innovation programmes has long frustrated the sector. 

For the researchers behind the 70 per cent of high-quality proposals that go unfunded, and the university leaders and supportive politicians whose arguments for more cash go largely ignored, the continued mismatch between EU leaders’ rhetoric over the importance of R&I and the sums that end up allocated to the EU’s seven-year framework programmes is painfully stark.