Hamburg Science Summit 2025: Europe needs to Align, Act, Accelerate research and innovation
How can Europe achieve scientific sovereignty? In his keynote at the Hamburg Science Summit 2025, Manuel Heitor calls for greater risk-taking, faster decisions and a new funding logic.
“We need more risk, faster decisions and new tools.” With this call, Manuel Heitor opened the 2025 Hamburg Science Summit. In his keynote, the former Portuguese Minister for Science and author of Align, Act, Accelerate argues that Europe must rethink its innovation model to secure strategic autonomy. This includes reforming the EU’s funding system, accelerating science-based transformation, and building a more resilient ecosystem for defence, security and competitiveness. Among other proposals, Heitor suggests establishing an “Experimental Unit” within the European Commission to trial new, agile funding instruments — inspired by models such as Germany’s SPRIN-D or the UK’s ARIA. His message is clear: Europe has the talent, but must act with greater unity and urgency.
