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SubscribeOn 2 July 2025 the European Commission unveiled Choose Europe for Life Sciences: A Strategy to position the EU as the world’s most attractive place for life sciences by 2030. The initiative seeks to consolidate the Union’s scientific excellence, close the translational gap between laboratory and market, and leverage life-science innovation as a vector for both public health and industrial competitiveness. Backed by more than €10 billion in annual EU funding, the strategy represents one of the most comprehensive policies frameworks for life sciences the Union has produced to date, extending well beyond the narrower Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Strategy adopted in 2024.
At its core, the strategy articulates three mutually reinforcing pillars.
- Optimizing the research and innovation ecosystem. The Commission undertakes to develop a dedicated EU investment plan for multi-country clinical trials and to reinforce European clinical research infrastructures. The plan is complemented by a One-Health Microbiome Initiative, to be financed with up to €100 million under Horizon Europe 2026-27 and a €250 million cross-sectoral technology window to accelerate advanced materials, novel molecules and more efficient biomanufacturing.
- Enabling rapid market access. The forthcoming Biotech Act will establish an innovation-friendly regulatory framework across the biotechnology value chain. In parallel, a new matchmaking interface will connect start-ups, incumbents and investors, building on the European Innovation Council portfolio and its Trusted Investors Network to reduce time-to-capital and scale-up frictions that currently hamper EU-based life-science ventures.
- Boosting trust, uptake and use of innovation. The Commission will mobilize €300 million to stimulate innovation, in specific areas such as climate change adaptation, next-generation vaccines and affordable oncological solutions, and will create an internal Life Science Coordination Group to ensure horizontal policy coherence across health, environment, competition and research directorates-general.
The Commission also published a detailed Questions & Answers document that clarifies the strategy’s practical implications, legislative interplay and funding mechanisms. Of particular interest are the following points:
- Interaction with forthcoming instruments. The Bioeconomy Strategy (expected later in 2025) will drive downstream demand for sustainable bioproducts, while the Biotech Act will tackle regulatory bottlenecks. The strategy thus serves as an overarching framework under which subsequent legislative and non-legislative actions will be nested.
- Synergy with the pharma package. Although the pharma package revises medicinal-product legislation, the life-sciences strategy addresses ecosystem conditions. The two initiatives are intentionally complementary.
The 2025 Life Sciences Strategy signals a decisive shift: from reactive regulation to proactive ecosystem design. By coupling substantial public investment with an impending Biotech Act and an integrated data-governance framework, the Commission aims to transform Europe into a magnet for high-impact bio-innovation.
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