Building Europe's Innovation Infrastructure

Europe's innovation challenge is often framed as a question of funding, talent, or research excellence. Yet a growing body of evidence suggests a different problem. The continent may already possess many of the ingredients required for innovation leadership. What it lacks is the infrastructure needed to consistently transform knowledge into economic value.

When policymakers discuss infrastructure, the conversation usually turns to physical assets. Ports. Railways. Energy systems. Data centres. Semiconductor fabs.

These are the foundations upon which economies operate. Without them, growth becomes difficult. Investment slows. Competitiveness declines.

Yet modern economies increasingly rely on another form of infrastructure that receives far less attention. Knowledge infrastructure. The systems, institutions, frameworks and processes that determine how ideas move from discovery to adoption.

For decades, Europe has invested heavily in the production of knowledge. Universities have expanded. Research budgets have grown. Scientific output remains among the strongest in the world. Across disciplines ranging from advanced materials and biotechnology to artificial intelligence and photonics, European researchers continue to generate discoveries that shape global scientific progress. [1]

The challenge is that creating knowledge and creating value are not the same thing. Increasingly, Europe's competitiveness debate revolves around the distance between those two activities.

The Infrastructure Europe Already Built

One reason the commercialization challenge is so often misunderstood is that Europe has become remarkably successful at the first half of the innovation equation.

The continent possesses world-class research universities, sophisticated public funding mechanisms, extensive scientific networks and highly educated workforces. The foundations of knowledge creation are largely in place.

This success is visible across a range of indicators. European universities continue to produce significant volumes of research. Public investment in science remains substantial. International collaborations span national borders and scientific disciplines. Research excellence itself is rarely identified as Europe's primary weakness. [1]

In many respects, Europe has spent decades building a knowledge production machine. The question now being asked is whether an equally effective knowledge deployment machine exists alongside it.

From Discovery to Impact

The European Commission's rationale for the forthcoming European Innovation Act is revealing in this regard.

The Commission explicitly argues that Europe produces large amounts of high-quality research and innovation but struggles to convert enough of that activity into successful products, services and companies. Commercialization, intellectual property exploitation, access to markets and collaboration between academia and industry are all identified as areas requiring attention. [1]

This diagnosis reflects a subtle but important shift. Historically, innovation policy often focused on inputs. How much should be invested in research? How many researchers should be trained? How many collaborative projects should be funded?

Today, attention is increasingly shifting toward outputs. How many discoveries reach industry? How many technologies are adopted? How much value is created? And perhaps most importantly, what systems help make those outcomes more likely?

What the Redstone Data Suggests

One of the most interesting developments in recent years has been the attempt to measure innovation systems through entrepreneurial outcomes rather than research outputs.

The Redstone University Index examined more than 900 institutions across Europe and found substantial variation in startup creation performance between universities with broadly comparable resources. Some institutions generated significantly more entrepreneurial activity than others despite operating under similar conditions. [2], [3]

The significance of this finding lies in what it implies. If institutions with similar budgets are producing dramatically different commercialization outcomes, then research funding alone cannot explain the difference.

Something else is influencing performance.

The most plausible explanation is that certain institutions possess stronger commercialization infrastructure. Not necessarily better science. Better systems around the science. Better connections to industry. More effective entrepreneurial support. More mature licensing practices. Stronger commercialization cultures. More accessible networks of investors and founders.

The research may be similar. The surrounding infrastructure is not.

Innovation Infrastructure Is Largely Invisible

Unlike laboratories or research buildings, commercialization infrastructure is difficult to see. It is embedded within processes. It resides in networks. It exists in institutional memory, professional expertise and organizational structures.

This makes it difficult to measure. A patent portfolio can be counted. A startup can be counted. A licensing agreement can be counted. The systems that enable those outcomes are much harder to quantify.

Yet they often determine whether opportunities progress at all.

When technology transfer professionals speak candidly about successful commercialization stories, they frequently describe more than a technology. They describe relationships, timing, expertise and institutional support.

The technology matters. But the environment surrounding the technology often matters just as much.

The Emergence of New Commercialization Frameworks

Across Europe, various initiatives have begun addressing this challenge directly.

The KTH Innovation Readiness Level framework emerged from a recognition that technical readiness does not necessarily translate into innovation readiness. By incorporating dimensions such as market readiness, customer understanding and implementation capability, it attempts to create a more complete view of what it takes for a technology to generate impact.

Similarly, the TenU University Spin-out Investment Terms Guide sought to improve consistency and reduce friction within the process of creating university spin-outs. Rather than focusing solely on technology quality, it examined the structures that determine how technologies move into ventures. [3]

Recent efforts by Danish universities to develop common licensing principles reflect a comparable logic. Standardization reduces complexity. Reduced complexity makes commercialization easier to pursue. Easier commercialization increases the likelihood that opportunities progress far enough to receive meaningful evaluation. [3]

What unites these initiatives is their focus on systems. They are attempts to improve innovation infrastructure rather than innovation itself.

Why Competitiveness Depends on Systems

The growing emphasis on commercialization infrastructure aligns closely with broader concerns surrounding European competitiveness.

The challenge facing Europe is not simply to generate breakthrough discoveries. The continent already does that. Nor is the challenge to increase the number of patents filed. Europe produces intellectual property at significant scale.

The challenge is ensuring that discoveries move efficiently through the journey from research to economic activity.

That journey is rarely automatic. A breakthrough technology must be identified. Its potential must be understood. Commercial partners must be engaged. Customers must be found. Business models must be developed. Capital must be secured.

The quality of these transitions often determines whether value is ultimately created. Innovation infrastructure exists to make those transitions possible.

The Next Phase of Innovation Policy

Looking ahead, innovation policy may increasingly focus on questions that would have received less attention a decade ago.

How can opportunities be identified earlier? How can commercialization decisions become more consistent? How can intellectual property be evaluated more effectively? How can researchers, investors and industry develop a shared understanding of potential value? How can technology transfer move from isolated success stories toward repeatable outcomes?

These are not questions about scientific quality. They are questions about infrastructure. And infrastructure, unlike individual discoveries, can be deliberately designed.

Beyond Research Excellence

Europe's investment in research has created extraordinary assets. World-class universities. World-class researchers. World-class intellectual property.

Yet the economic value of these assets ultimately depends on what happens after discovery.

The next chapter of European competitiveness may therefore be less concerned with generating knowledge than with moving knowledge. Less concerned with invention than with adoption. Less concerned with scientific capability than with the systems that convert capability into impact.

If the twentieth century was defined by investments in research infrastructure, the coming decade may be defined by investments in commercialization infrastructure.

Because the challenge is no longer simply producing breakthrough ideas. The challenge is ensuring that more of them reach the people, markets and industries that can put them to work.

Sources

1. DigitalEurope. (2025, October 3). A European Innovation Act to boost commercialisation and enable growth. https://cdn.digitaleurope.org/uploads/2025/10/DIGITALEUROPE-European-Innovation-Act-to-boost-commercialisation-and-enable-growth-03102025.pdf
2. European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. (2025, December 4). Commission concludes public consultation on the European Innovation Act. https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/news/all-research-and-innovation-news/commission-concludes-public-consultation-european-innovation-act-2025-12-04_en
3. European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. (n.d.). European Innovation Act. Retrieved August 7, 2026, from https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/strategy/support-policy-making/shaping-eu-research-and-innovation-policy/european-innovation-act_en