Executive highlights

• Economic security is now a formal EU policy frame that shapes research priorities, collaboration choices, and safeguards for sensitive technologies.
• ‘Made in Europe’ procurement and industrial acceleration concepts are moving from debate to concrete policy instruments, with direct implications for exploitation and scale-up narratives.
• Outbound investment review for advanced technologies (including semiconductors, AI and quantum) is progressing through Member State reporting and risk assessment mechanisms.
• STEP is increasingly used as a cross-programme lens to define ‘strategic technologies’ and to mobilise complementary EU funding pathways.
• Regulatory readiness (AI Act, NIS2) is part of implementation credibility for projects in critical infrastructure, cybersecurity, data spaces and AI-enabled systems.
• Defence industrial policy is increasingly linked to competitiveness and innovation pipelines; even civil proposals benefit from credible dual-use risk management and security-by-design governance.

1. Context and relevance: why geopolitics now drives EU funding

In 2026, EU funding decisions are increasingly anchored in a shared policy logic: reduce strategic dependencies, protect critical technologies, and accelerate industrial deployment within Europe. This affects Horizon Europe evaluation, Joint Undertakings’ industrial relevance expectations, and the design of cross-programme investment pathways.

For applicants, the practical consequence is that ‘Impact’ is interpreted through resilience and security lenses: supply chain robustness, EU-based manufacturing capability, trusted data infrastructures, and governance to prevent undesirable knowledge transfer.

2. Policy anchors to reference 

Use a small number of official policy anchors and translate them into project logic. Below are the most relevant anchors to cite explicitly in text .

• European Economic Security Strategy (Commission Communication) — https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/2024-01/Communication%20on%20European%20economic%20security.pdf
• Outbound investment review Recommendation and context (Press Corner, 15 Jan 2025) — https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_261
• STEP – Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (overview) — https://strategic-technologies.europa.eu/about_en
• European Chips Act (policy page) — https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/european-chips-act
• Critical Raw Materials Act – Parliament Research Briefing (EPRS) — https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2024/766253/EPRS_BRI%282024%29766253_EN.pdf
• Net-Zero Industry Act (Commission page) — https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/industry/sustainability/net-zero-industry-act_en
• AI Act – Commission policy page — https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/regulatory-framework-ai
• NIS2 Directive – Commission policy page — https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/nis2-directive
• Ukraine Facility – Commission page — https://commission.europa.eu/topics/eu-solidarity-ukraine/eu-assistance-ukraine/ukraine-facility_en

3. Latest highlights to integrate into 2026 proposals 

The following developments are especially relevant for shaping credible ‘Impact’ and ‘Implementation’ narratives in 2026. Each reference is written with the exact URL you can insert on the page.

1. Industrial Accelerator Act / ‘made in Europe’ direction for procurement and subsidies (draft reporting, Feb 2026) — https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/what-is-eus-draft-made-europe-law-2026-02-17/

Treat this as a demand-side and localisation signal. For strategic technology proposals, justify EU value chain strengthening with concrete sourcing, manufacturing readiness and supplier diversification measures.

2. Clean Industrial Deal (competitiveness and decarbonisation package; procurement framework review signal) — https://commission.europa.eu/topics/competitiveness/clean-industrial-deal_en

Use this anchor for clean-tech, manufacturing, energy systems and circularity projects: it supports a plausible uptake pathway via resilience- and sustainability-oriented procurement criteria.

3. AI Act: Commission confirmation that the implementation timeline continues (reported July 2025) — https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/artificial-intelligence-rules-go-ahead-no-pause-eu-commission-says-2025-07-04/

For AI-enabled solutions, include an ‘AI Act readiness’ plan in implementation: system classification, data governance, documentation, human oversight, and post-market monitoring responsibilities.

4. How to translate geopolitics into evaluator-scoring content

4.1 Excellence: geopolitics-aware excellence without policy name-dropping

Evaluator-friendly excellence framing in geopolitics-relevant domains should include:

• A precise dependency problem statement (which dependency, where, why it matters, and what the project changes).
• Security-by-design or resilience-by-design approach (architecture choices, trusted components, verification methods).
• A credible pathway from TRL advancement to industrial adoption, including constraints (standards, certification, access to pilot lines, supply chain).
• A research security and sensitive knowledge governance approach proportionate to the topic (access control, IP governance, publication review for sensitive outputs), aligned with the economic security policy frame (European Economic Security Strategy — https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/2024-01/Communication%20on%20European%20economic%20security.pdf).

4.2 Impact: measurable strategic autonomy and resilience

Impact should be expressed in measurable outcomes that reflect EU policy intent. Examples of evaluator-friendly KPI families:

• Dependency reduction KPIs: share of critical components/materials with EU/EEA sourcing options; number of qualified EU suppliers; documented alternative sourcing pathways (Critical Raw Materials Act briefing — https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2024/766253/EPRS_BRI%282024%29766253_EN.pdf).
• Manufacturing readiness KPIs: manufacturing readiness level (MRL) progression; pilot line throughput or yield improvements; time-to-qualification reduction (European Chips Act — https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/european-chips-act).
• Adoption KPIs: number of EU industrial deployment sites; signed replication commitments; procurement-readiness milestones aligned with the Clean Industrial Deal direction (Clean Industrial Deal — https://commission.europa.eu/topics/competitiveness/clean-industrial-deal_en).
• Security and compliance KPIs: NIS2-aligned security controls for relevant entities (NIS2 — https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/nis2-directive) and AI Act classification/documentation completeness for AI-enabled systems (AI Act — https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/regulatory-framework-ai).

4.3 Implementation: governance and risk management under geopolitical constraints

Implementation credibility increases when the work plan shows governance for sensitive assets and realistic geopolitical risk management.

• Add a governance layer: decision rights, escalation paths, partner exit/entry procedures, and publication approval for sensitive outputs.
• Use a risk register that includes supply chain disruption, export-control classification uncertainty, and technology leakage risks (Outbound investment review context — https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_261).
• Make exploitation and standardisation activities visible as real work packages with resources, deliverables and milestones; link them to EU manufacturing and scale-up frameworks (Net-Zero Industry Act — https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/industry/sustainability/net-zero-industry-act_en).

5. Common evaluator pitfalls in geopolitics-shaped proposals

• Strategic autonomy claims without a dependency baseline or measurable indicators.
• Overpromising open dissemination for outputs that may be sensitive, dual-use, or commercially critical.
• Weak industrial commitment: missing manufacturers, integrators, certification/testing actors, or end-user validation sites.
• Generic risk tables that ignore supply chain, compliance, and IP leakage risks.
• Implementation plans that do not show procurement, market-entry, or scaling pathways aligned with emerging EU preference criteria (Industrial Accelerator Act reporting — https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/what-is-eus-draft-made-europe-law-2026-02-17/).
• Using too many policy references instead of two to three well-integrated anchors that are clearly translated into project design.

6. Practical action plan: 10 steps for applicants

4. Pick the right policy anchors (max 3) and define what each anchor implies for your project design.
5. Create a dependency and resilience baseline (components, materials, manufacturing steps, data infrastructure, single points of failure).
6. Define an ‘EU value chain contribution’ narrative that is verifiable (partners, suppliers, sites, investments, replication commitments).
7. Translate resilience into KPIs (dependency, MRL/TRL, adoption, security/compliance).
8. Design work packages around the impact pathway (not only technical tasks).
9. Add governance for sensitive assets (IP, data access, publication approvals, background/foreground management).
10. Plan for regulatory readiness where relevant (AI Act, NIS2, product compliance, cybersecurity standards).
11. Stress-test consortium composition against deployment reality (manufacturing, integration, certification, end-users).
12. Write a geopolitical risk register with mitigation measures and contingency options.
13. Run a final evaluator-style coherence check: does each impact claim have a corresponding task, resource, deliverable and KPI?

7. How Nexuswelt supports

Nexuswelt supports coordinators and partners in translating geopolitical and economic security priorities into evaluator-scoring proposal design. Support includes policy anchoring, impact engineering (KPIs, exploitation pathways, adoption mechanisms), implementation readiness (work packages, governance, risk registers), and consortium positioning.

Professional next step: request a geopolitics-and-economic-security alignment review of a concept note or draft proposal, focused on Excellence, Impact and Implementation coherence.

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