Europe is at a crossroads: climate change, technological change, geopolitical conflicts and demographic challenges are profoundly changing our society and economy. At the same time, the innovation gap between Europe and the US and China continues to grow. Europe's innovative capacity shows that it is losing momentum. Mario Draghi and Manuel Heitor have also highlighted this in their reports, making it clear that To ensure that Europe remains self-determined and economically strong in the future, competitiveness and the promotion of innovation must be at the heart of the European economic agenda, and more money must be invested in research and innovation. The BDI welcomes the fact that the next EU Research Framework Programme and the European Competitiveness Fund are intended to strengthen Europe's competitiveness and sets out the priorities from the perspective of German industry.