{"id":1735,"date":"2026-06-11T12:10:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T10:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/omniasolutions.hr\/?p=1735"},"modified":"2026-10-28T13:25:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T12:25:25","slug":"eu-innovation-funding-mff-2028-2034","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/omniasolutions.hr\/en\/eu-innovation-funding-mff-2028-2034\/","title":{"rendered":"The future of EU innovation funding: why the next budget (MFF 2028\u20132034) must deliver real simplification"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The European Union’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028\u20132034 will be the largest budget in EU history. It again comes with a promise of simpler procedures. The key question is whether this time the simplification will be real and measurable for those the funds are intended for, the beneficiaries and the taxpayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow-up analysis (October 2026):<\/strong> EU budget 2028\u20132034: the October 2026 cuts and what they mean for innovation funding and Croatian businesses<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Simplification is promised in every budget cycle. The benchmark for 2028 will be whether an entrepreneur can submit an application in one system, under one set of rules.” – Davor Nikoli\u0107, EAIC panel, Zagreb, 9 June 2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This topic was at the centre of the panel \u201cThe Future of EU Innovation Funding: Priorities for the Next MFF<\/strong>\u201d at the annual meeting of the European Association of Innovation Consultants (EAIC)<\/a>,<\/strong> held in Zagreb on 9 June 2026. Davor Nikoli\u0107, co-founder of Omnia Solutions<\/strong>, a company specialising in EU funding, took part as one of the panellists. Below we present the key insights from the discussion and the data showing why reform of EU innovation funding is more urgent today than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The largest EU budget in history, with (yet another) promise of simplification<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The next MFF will be a record in size and, as in previous cycles, it comes with announcements of simpler and faster procedures. Experience from previous programming periods shows that such announcements too often remain mere declarations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key message is therefore simple, but demanding to implement. Simplification must not remain just another announcement. Rules, procedures and processes at all levels, from European to national and regional, must become significantly faster and easier for end beneficiaries to understand. Only then can a larger budget deliver a larger real impact, instead of the additional funds being spent on administration and complex access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Draghi report: the most systematic diagnosis, but slow implementation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mario Draghi’s report of September 2024 presented the most systematic diagnosis of European competitiveness in recent decades. It identified 383 specific recommendations to boost growth, innovation and the industrial renewal of the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem, however, lies in implementation rather than in the diagnosis. According to the Draghi Observatory initiative, by January 2026 only about 15% of these recommendations had been fully implemented, with roughly another 24% partially implemented. In other words, a year and a half after publication, more than half of the recommendations are still \u201cin progress\u201d or unrealised. Progress has been greatest in critical raw materials and transport, and weakest in energy and digitalisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The slowness of the reform response becomes even clearer when European results are placed in the wider, global context of investment in research and development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU has lagged behind in R&D investment for decades<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to Eurostat, investment in research and development (R&D) in the EU amounted to 2.24% of GDP in 2024. This is stagnation compared with 2.26% a year earlier, and still far below the target of 3% of GDP that the EU set back in 2002 under the Lisbon Strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This gap is neither a new phenomenon nor the result of a single crisis. It is a structural problem that has lasted more than two decades. Although the absolute amount of R&D investment has grown (exceeding EUR 403 billion in 2024), investment intensity measured as a share of GDP remains practically unchanged and far from the target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global context: where the EU stands against its competitors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A comparison with global competitors clearly shows the scale of the challenge. According to comparable data, R&D investment intensity is as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n