Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
UG
Research, education, societal impact and talent development are essential to achieving our mission and vision.
ID: 645062929548-68
Lobbying Activity
Response to EU’s next long-term budget (MFF) – EU funding for competitiveness
10 Nov 2025
The University of Groningen (UG), a globally ranked research university with broad disciplinary expertise, welcomes the European Commissions proposals for the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) and the 10th Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10). UG commends the Commissions ambition to strengthen Europe's scientific and technological leadership and appreciates the opportunity to provide feedback based on extensive experience in Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe. Overall reflections UG supports the establishment of FP10 and the ECF as separate legal and financial frameworks, viewing this as key to ensuring focus, flexibility, and transparency. It also endorses the continuation of the four-pillar FP10 structure, providing clarity and continuity for participants. UG welcomes the proposed 175 billion FP10 budget as a step forward but advocates for a further increase to 200 billion to meet Europes research ambitions. UG warns against making lump-sum funding the default funding mechanism. While it may simplify administration for small projects, it risks creating rigidity and added complexity in large, multi-partner consortia, reducing flexibility, increasing proposal workload, and discouraging high-risk research. It also raises equity concerns, particularly where fixed unit costs do not reflect actual salary variations across countries. Pillar I Excellent Science UG fully supports reinforcing the European Research Council (ERC) and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), highlighting their vital roles in fostering Europes scientific excellence and talent attraction. It stresses that both must remain independent and curiosity-driven. UG is concerned by proposals suggesting ERC alignment with Commission policy priorities and the reduction of the ERC Presidents term, which could undermine autonomy. Similarly, it opposes potential thematic direction in MSCA calls, as this limits flexibility for researchers. Pillar II Global Challenges and European Competitiveness UG supports expanding Pillar II funding and its closer linkage with the ECF to translate scientific discoveries into economic and societal value. However, it insists FP10 must focus on fundamental and early-stage innovation (TRL 16), while the ECF should support scale-up and market deployment (TRL 7+). This complementarity requires clear governance, aligned objectives, and transparent coordination. FP10s governing structures should include academic representatives to safeguard its values of excellence, impact, and quality. UG emphasizes that Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) must be better integrated and adequately funded across all competitiveness policy windows. SSH provides essential insights into societal, ethical, and cultural dimensions of innovation, enabling responsible and inclusive progress. The Society window currently receives disproportionately low funding, undermining social and democratic goals. SSH integration should go beyond formal recognition to meaningful inclusion in programme design and implementation. Pillar III Innovative Europe UG welcomes the continued development of the European Innovation Council (EIC), including the Pathfinder and Transition schemes, as crucial bridges between research and innovation. However, it cautions that the proposed portfolio approach must remain consistent with FP10s bottom-up principles and award criteria to avoid stifling creativity. UG strongly opposes the inclusion of defence-related research within FP10, as this contradicts the stated separation of defence activities under the ECF. We have elaborated our feedback in more detail in the attached document.
Read full responseResponse to EU’s next long-term budget (MFF) – implementing EU funding with Member States and regions
29 Oct 2025
The University of Groningen (UG) is a leading international research university deeply rooted in its region in the Northern-Netherlands. The UG supports stronger alignment between EU, national and regional priorities. The UG believes the National and Regional Partnership Plans (NRPPs) can only help accomplish this by anchoring the partnership principle, maintaining territorial sensitivity, and ensuring that knowledge institutions and regional authorities have a formal and structured role in programming, implementation and evaluation. The NRPPs as proposed by the European Commission risk excessive centralisation, granting Member States wide discretion in regional involvement. For countries like the Netherlands, with a decentralised governance model, regional participation must be explicitly guaranteed. If the Commission's proposal for the NRPPs goes into negotiations unchanged, the UG strongly calls for: Mandatory regional chapters in all NRPPs, co-designed with regional governments, universities and other key actors. Formal mechanisms for consultation between national and regional levels throughout implementation, ensuring accountability and transparency. Recognition of universities as strategic partners in delivering place-based innovation and societal impact. Universities in particular will provide regional intelligence and scientific evidence for NRPPs policy design, implementation and evaluation. In addition, funding resources should remain flexibly deployable within regional programmes to support integrated transitions in innovation, sustainability and skills. If the disbursement of funds is tied to European Semester reforms, regional stakeholders (including knowledge institutions) must be involved in the design and negotiation of these reform measures as well. Excluding them would reduce legitimacy and undermine shared ownership and regional impact.
Read full responseResponse to Targeted revision of the EU rules for medical devices and in vitro diagnostics
6 Oct 2025
The University of Groningen (RUG) is an innovative research university that includes the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), a large teaching hospital and research center for medicine, patient care, education, and innovative research, particularly focused on Healthy Ageing. We strongly advocate enabling the sharing of in-house developed devices with other healthcare institutions: Article 5.5(a) stipulates that the use of in-house developed medical devices is only permitted within the legal entity where they were developed. Non-academic hospitals often lack the regulatory capacity, resources, manpower, and time to develop in-house devices for unmet needs. To guarantee continuity of care for their smaller patient groups, these hospitals rely on the devices developed in-house by university hospitals. However, Article 5.5 of the MDR prohibits university hospitals from transferring their in-house developed devices to another legal entity. As a result, smaller hospitals are unable to meet the needs of their smaller patient groups and care for this target group cannot be provided. Additionally, the use of devices jointly developed in-house by a consortium of healthcare institutions is severely hampered, as a consortium is not recognized as a legal entity under current rules. Hospitals should be allowed to transfer internally developed medical devices to other healthcare institutions (legal entities) for purposes of innovation, or where no CE-marked alternatives are available to meet specific healthcare needs. We propose adapting the regulation by replacing the term 'legal entity' in Article 5.5 with a more harmonized terminology such as healthcare network, consortium, or collaborative association to allow sharing of in-house manufactured devices within a consortium or collaborative network, provided that the entities collectively meet the requirements of Article 5.5. This would severly stimulate innovation, guarantee the continuity of treatment for rare diseases and smaller patient groups, and promote harmonization and equality among Member States that use different definitions of a separate legal entity.
Read full responseResponse to European Innovation Act
26 Sept 2025
The University of Groningen fully supports EUs efforts to improve the single market with a European Innovation Act. We strongly believe that any European initiative to foster innovation must consider the full knowledge value chain from fundamental research to commercial application and recognise the central role of academia within it. The Innovation Act must provide clear definitions of startups, scaleups, and innovative firms. Clear definitions are of the utmost importance to reduce uncertainty for the public and private parties involved and to ensure their fair access to infrastructures and support measures. In this context we urge the European Commission to give special recognition to spin-offs emerging from universities, given their unique contribution to the valorisation of academic knowledge. Clear definitions must also be accompanied by rules that balance fairness, intellectual property protection, and security considerations. At the policy level, the Innovation Act should provide clarity in areas such as state aid and intellectual property, ensuring that universities can support spin-offs without facing disproportionate administrative hurdles. At the same time, any EU simplification efforts must not undermine regional or national specificities, which often underpin the strength of local innovation ecosystems. Specifically, universities need the flexibility to develop strategies and professional services suited to their size and context, rather than being bound by rigid, one-size-fits-all requirements. It is also very important that the Act recognises that innovation is not confined to technological breakthroughs or the natural sciences. Equally vital are contributions from the social sciences, humanities, arts, and design. These disciplines bring forward business model innovations, policy reforms, participatory governance, and socially oriented entrepreneurship. They also provide tools such as design thinking, co-creation, and living labs that enable inclusive, human-centred, and systemic approaches to complex challenges. The Innovation Act should help facilitate cooperation between academia and industry with adequate non-financial and financial support to strengthen the interface between academia and business and by creating incentives for collaboration on joint R&D projects, co-creation formats, and shared testing, training and transfer infrastructures. Incentives should reach all levels from PhD students to professors so that entrepreneurial pathways are nurtured throughout the knowledge system. Finally, investment in people is just as important as investment in technology. Europes education and training systems from universities to vocational providers are essential for equipping society with the skills that innovative companies need. Stronger links between education and innovation policy will help secure the talent pipeline for Europes future.
Read full responseResponse to European Research Area (ERA) Act
8 Sept 2025
The University of Groningen (UG) welcomes the European Commissions initiative to prepare a legislative proposal for an ERA Act. With regards to the Call for evidence: UG supports achieving the 3% R&D investment target but emphasizes that this should not lead to neglecting basic research or excessive emphasis on defense-related R&D. UG also requests that part of the 3% be spent on international cooperation and SSH (social sciences & humanities). UG considers better alignment of investments and policies coordination positive. Though UG emphasizes that bottom-up research must be maintained and that stakeholders must be continuously involved (via ERAC, ERA Forum), with structural guarantees for academic participation. UG supports improvements in framework conditions for research(ers) and research organisations in Europe, if it provides added value compared to existing instruments (ERC, MSCA, Erasmus+) and the improvements are in coherence with the Union of Skills, lifelong learning, and European Universities alliances. Finally, UG believes that the ERA Act should also address the barriers within the EU with regard to the system of tax and premium levy for mobile scientific personnel. Although many tax treaties contain a provision that prevents double taxation, this does not result in a logical system of tax and premium levy for mobile scientific personnel. Among others, the distinction between country of residence and country of employment is important here. For example, teachers who live in Belgium and practice their profession in the Netherlands pay income tax in Belgium for the first two years and therefore suffer a financial disadvantage compared to their colleagues living in the Netherlands. Furthermore, a level playing field is not being achieved because some tax treaties in EU -countries contain provisions for mobile researchers while others do not, and the wording of the various provisions also can vary considerably. It would be very beneficial for researchers if it did not matter in which country they temporarily conduct research or teaching.
Read full responseMeeting with Henriette Van Eijl (Head of Unit Research and Innovation), Philippe Cupers (Seconded Head of Unit Research and Innovation) and
20 Mar 2025 · Invitation Netherlands Federation University Medical Centres
Response to EU Start-up and Scale-up Strategy
17 Mar 2025
The University of Groningen supports the European Commissions recognition of key hurdles facing startups and scaleups, including access to finance, regulatory burdens, market access, talent acquisition, and infrastructure gaps. The document highlights additional challenges, such as cultural and structural fragmentation, limited risk appetite among investors, a short-term focus in public funding, and brain drain to the US and Asia. To address these barriers, the university of Groningen suggests: Improving access to finance through an EU-wide venture capital fund, streamlined public funding, and government-backed investment guarantees. Harmonizing regulations, such as a pan-European startup legal entity and standardized tax rules. Attracting and retaining talent via simplified visas, better stock option schemes, and expanded pan-European accelerator programs. Enhancing market access through a European digital marketplace and improved procurement opportunities. Strengthening infrastructure by increasing investment in deep-tech incubators, innovation hubs, and mentorship programs. Boosting public-private investment with a pan-European investment fund and better allocation of venture funding from pension funds. Accelerating digitalization through an EU-wide cloud and data strategy and fostering collaboration between startups, universities, and research institutions. Preventing brain drain by providing financial incentives and support for EU-based startup growth. By addressing these challenges with a unified and ambitious EU strategy, the European startup ecosystem can become more competitive, integrated, and innovation-driven.
Read full responseMeeting with Thijs Reuten (Member of the European Parliament)
26 Jun 2023 · Rule of Law
Meeting with Anthony Whelan (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen), Bjoern Seibert (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen), Charmaine Hili (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen), Fernando Sampedro Marcos (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen), Maria Luisa Cabral (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen), Mary Veronica Tovsak Pleterski (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen), Nicole Dewandre (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen), Olivier Smith (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen), Per Haugaard (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen), Sonia Vila Nunez (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen), Valeria Miceli (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen) and
30 Jul 2020 · Brainstorming Session on "The State of the Union in 2020: Society and Democracy" - [Via Webex]