Projects

The challenge

IDEA Consult has been involved in five services within a Framework Contract for the Directorate-General on Research and Innovation (DG RTD), together with consortium partners PPMI Group (Lithuania) and INTRASOFT International SA (Luxembourg). The five services concern: 

• Monitoring Industrial investment in new technologies in Energy-Intensive Industries  
• Monitoring Industrial investment in new technologies in Advanced Materials  
• Monitoring Industrial investment in new technologies in Clean & Renewable Energy  
• Monitoring Industrial investment in new technologies in Circular Economy  
• Monitoring Industrial investment in new technologies in Industry 5.0  

The five contracts focus on the collection of new data, from numerous sources of structured and unstructured data, and the computation of new indicators, including growth metrics for companies, SDG data, standards, R&D intensity data, FET scores, collaboration data and networks, digitalisation score, tech competition score, and technological value of patents in various areas. The availability of such data and indicators enable to better assess technology investment and deployment in new strategic areas for the future of Europe. 

The process & results

Under this contract, the consortium has developed a comprehensive data warehouse that maintains longitudinal data spanning over a decade, covering five emerging technology sectors. For each sector, two strategic positioning reports have been compiled, offering empirical market analyses, trend assessments, and policy recommendations. These reports deliver crucial insights into the industrial R&D&I landscape in Europe by defining the scope and characteristics of relevant technology fields, including specific sectors and technology classifications. 

Moreover, the reports offer in-depth market analyses of R&D actors both within the EU and globally, detailing their technological investments and innovations. They assess the contributions, market shares, and investment flows of both headquartered and resident companies. The reports also identify strategic directions and emerging trends within these sectors, presenting solid evidence of the main disparities and strengths in R&D&I of EU companies compared to their global counterparts. 

Additionally, these reports assess EU’s positioning in the value chain of these emerging technologies and identify strengths and weaknesses in competitiveness and technological performance. Lastly, they map, define, and analyze the geographic distribution of technology infrastructures, highlighting evolving trends and clusters in EU R&D regions. 

An example can be found in the Industrial R&D&I Investments and Market Analysis in Advanced Materials Summary Report, available from the Publications Office of the European Union. This report offers insights into the EU’s competitiveness and industrial R&D&I investments in advanced materials (AM). It evaluates the progress toward the strategic objectives set forth in the Materials 2030 Manifesto and Roadmap. Key insights from this report include: 

Overall, EU’s industrial ecosystem in advanced materials has a high potential. It can rely on a significant share of innovation leaders in the field and a strong technology specialisation in certain sectors. Within the EU, most of the companies’ patenting activities are taking place in Germany, which are highly specialised in transportation, electronic appliances and new energy technologies. While a lion’s share of the companies active in the EU are also headquartered there, they tend to be outward oriented and keep strong collaborative ties in R&D with companies abroad. 

EU’s corporate patenting output in advanced materials falls behind the US and Japan and remains stable over time while other world regions report rising patent trends. In addition, EU’s ecosystem in advanced materials lacks entrepreneurial dynamism as it exhibits a relatively low share of capital raised by start-ups active in advanced materials. 

This calls for the development and implementation of national and EU policies to strengthen the start-up scene in advanced materials in the Member States, accelerate the uptake of advanced materials and maximise the impact of research investments in this field. A comprehensive approach that encourages cooperation and integration, while simplifying policy implementation, is key to make the EU a global leader in this area.