How the European Union is Driving the Next Wave of Innovation

The need to innovate is so strong among humans that it’s practically written in our DNA. We’re fueled by reaching the next step and driven by an unwavering desire to explore the unknown. That push to innovate has enabled us to evolve and expand, and throughout time, it’s contributed to harmful and helpful impacts alike.

The ideal effect of innovation, however, is why we invest so much collective time and money in studying things we once thought were impossible to understand. In fact, the European Union spent a massive €403 billion — or 2.24% of the total GDP — on research and development in 2024 alone.⁽¹⁾

The EU also accounts for 22% of the world’s research publications (behind China at 28%),⁽²⁾ and EU research and innovation programs have supported 33 Nobel Prize winners.⁽³⁾ With a 12.6-percentage-point increase in innovation performance score since 2018, Europe has been a global leader in cutting-edge research for decades.⁽⁴⁾ Here’s a look at seven groundbreaking innovations that have made waves in recent years.

Infographic design by Boris Benko and Josip Dujmović

Sustainability Initiatives

1. Weather-Proofing With Fungi

Scientists in Slovenia have created “living skin,” inspired by the biofilms that coat most fungi species. Most buildings and new constructions are developed with a toxic chemical coating to protect them from the elements. Scientists believe this new living material will provide all the same protective benefits along with more durable, sustainable, and eco-friendly impacts.

The work is part of the ARCHI-SKIN endeavor,⁽⁵⁾ a five-year research initiative combining expertise from microbiologists, biotechnologists, and material scientists. Fungi, they’re finding, might just be the key to sustainable architecture.

2. Building Reusable Electronics

The convenience economy often leads to extreme amounts of waste, which devastate the earth and often release harmful substances into our air and water. When the latest gadget gets released — often because of planned obsolescence — literal tons of electronics are simply thrown out.

The SUSTRONICS initiative is trying to fix this ever-growing problem by reimagining the construction of our most common electronic devices.⁽⁶⁾ Scientists from 11 countries are making electronics with bio-based materials, creating sustainable manufacturing practices, and improving production efficiency to double the percent of reused materials to 24% by 2030.

3. Transforming CO₂ Into Rocks

One of the EU Green Deal⁽⁷⁾ goals is to become climate-neutral by 2050 — and the CarbFix2 initiative is working hard to make that happen.⁽⁸⁾ Headquartered in Iceland, the €2.2 million initiative combines scientists from four different countries to do the previously unthinkable: turn harmful carbon dioxide emissions into rocks.

CarbFix2 scientists have found a way to remove CO₂, dissolve it in water, then solidify that into a stone to be stored underground, thereby preventing the effects and amount of air emissions. It’s a cutting-edge, groundbreaking step on the path toward climate neutrality.

Medical Miracles

4. Giving Surgeons a Sense of Touch

Combining optical sensing, robotics, and AI, scientists across seven European countries are working to give surgeons back the ability to feel the body during operations. Touch is a vital sense for effective surgical procedures, as it allows the surgeon to feel for abnormalities in tissues. But as many surgeries have become minimally invasive, surgeons no longer have the ability to palpate, which means they’re more likely to miss abnormalities.

The PALPABLE initiative is using light to restore touch.⁽⁹⁾ Surgeons would deploy a fibre-optic cable to “touch” the tissue. The cable sends light waves with varying degrees of intensity and wavelengths, which then send information back to the surgeon about the tissue’s stiffness.

5. Exploring the Microbiome’s Role in Immune Responses

Researchers have been revealing the profound role of the microbiome for decades now. But scientists headquartered in Munich have recently made an even more remarkable discovery. Gut bacteria, they found, actually carry structures that look and function much like syringes. What do they do with these formations? They inject their own proteins right into human cells.⁽¹⁰⁾

By mapping non-harmful gut bacteria, the researchers found that gut bacteria typically “target pathways involved in immune regulation and metabolism,” particularly in the microbiomes of people with Crohn’s disease. This is a revelatory finding, as it has significant implications for mitigating digestive system and immune disorders.

Bridging Tech and Culture

6. Honoring Cultural Heritage With 3D Models

Today, many museums and cultural heritage areas enable people to explore the sites through 3D models. The INCEPTION project is taking these models to the next level by combining virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D laser scanning, and building information modelling to develop enhanced 3D models with contextual information.⁽¹¹⁾

With this technology, users can search free models, then select a specific period of time or feature of the heritage site to explore. Using VR tools, users can experience dynamic reconstructions and access historical information. The project is not only creating innovative archival solutions, but also expanding inclusive access to key cultural sites.

7. Finding New Planets With Noise-Cutting Telescopes

Believe it or not, the noise emitted from distant suns makes it nearly impossible to spot the signals that could indicate habitable planets out there in the galaxy. Headquartered in Portugal, the FIERCE initiative⁽¹²⁾ is developing a leading-edge telescope that can analyze the noises made from the sun’s granulation and magnetic shifts.⁽¹³⁾

The Paranal solar Espresso Telescope uses advanced spectrographic technology to mitigate “stellar noise,” enabling astronomers to quite literally cut through aural distractions to identify signals of Earth-like planets.

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