The European Commission adopted a voluntary charter on Wednesday designed to give startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) faster, more transparent access to the continent's leading research laboratories and pilot facilities. The move is part of a broader push to accelerate the journey from laboratory breakthrough to commercial product, a process where Europe has long lagged behind the United States and China.
Ekaterina Zaharieva, the European commissioner for startups, research and innovation, said in a statement that "innovative companies in Europe need cutting-edge infrastructures to develop and test ideas and bring their innovations to the market more quickly." She added: "I invite research and technology infrastructures to endorse the Charter and champion its principles."
Why smaller firms struggle
According to the Commission, many companies—especially smaller ones—find it difficult to identify what services research infrastructures offer, how to access them, and what the costs will be. Larger corporations typically have the resources to navigate complex or opaque agreements, but startups and SMEs often lack that capacity. The charter's six principles aim to address these barriers by promoting increased visibility and availability of services, transparency and quality standards, simplified contracts, safe management of intellectual property, tailored support for companies, and closer cooperation between infrastructures on data-sharing.
Research and technology infrastructures can now formally endorse the charter through an online form. The Commission said it would support the rollout with webinars, events, and a shared repository where organisations can submit examples of good practice.
The charter forms part of the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy, which seeks to make the bloc the world's top destination for launching and growing technology-driven companies. It also complements the EU's broader strategy on research and technology infrastructures and sits alongside an existing European Charter for Access to Research Infrastructures.
The initiative comes as the EU continues to stress the importance of boosting its competitiveness compared with top global players. In recent months, Brussels has also been working on other measures to strengthen the bloc's innovation ecosystem, including efforts to deepen ties with Ukraine in areas such as drone technology and research collaboration.
While the charter is voluntary, its adoption signals a growing recognition that Europe's world-class research facilities are underutilised by the businesses that need them most. If widely endorsed, it could help bridge the gap between scientific excellence and commercial application—a persistent weakness in the European innovation landscape.
