Europe’s leadership depends on its ability to discover, develop, and manufacture these materials safely and sustainably. However, despite Europe’s strong foundation in science and regulatory practices, structural challenges hinder the process from materials discovery to their safe, sustainable, and competitive use.

Europe faces challenges in the advanced materials research and innovation (R&I) landscape. These include the fragmentation of R&I ecosystems, the gap between EU and US or Asian private investment in this area, low levels of digitalisation in the design and development of advanced materials, insufficient industrial support for inventors to cross the “valley of death”, and a lack of the necessary skills for the future. Several initiatives are being launched to address these gaps and to position Europe as a leader in advanced materials as demand for them continues to grow worldwide.

Still, questions remain, and in March 2025 the College of Commissioners asked the Scientific Advice Mechanism, via the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors, to address the following:

1. What contribution can advanced materials bring to the EU’s strategic autonomy?
2. How can the cross-fertilisation of innovation in advanced materials be enhanced?

To address these questions, SAPEA assembled a working group of experts nominated by academies of science and engineering across Europe. Between June and December 2025, the working group, comprising 22 members, reviewed and compiled the latest evidence on the subject to produce this evidence review report. Seventeen stakeholders from the advanced materials industry and innovation chain participated in an industry and innovation workshop; 13 experts reviewed a preliminary draft of the report in an expert workshop; and four peer reviewers revised the final version. Building on these contributions, the report informed the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors, assisting them in delivering their Scientific Opinion.

According to the Commission’s Group of Chief Scientific Advisors, prioritising core EU values, including safety, sustainability, transparency and high production standards, will enable the advanced materials sector to become a key driver of European competitiveness, thereby reinforcing investor and consumer trust, supporting Europe’s long-term autonomy, and contributing to Europe’s geopolitical resilience.

Here are the recommendations of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors:

• Ensure that policies for advanced materials prioritise EU values such as autonomy,
  safety and sustainability, and prosperity
• Support the creation of data spaces for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable data, digitalisation, AI and computational methods for accelerating safe-and-sustainable advanced materials research and commercialisation.
• Design standards for advanced materials to support safety and sustainability at every level of technology development and facilitate market access.
• Strengthen ecosystems that effectively develop, coordinate and support initiatives to accelerate R&D uptake by the market.
• Invest to expand EU strengths in research and innovation on advanced materials.

This Scientific Opinion has been produced to support the Advanced Materials Act