REALISE - pRoducE Actionable poLicy Insights that enable a sound balance between Security and opEnness

REALISE will pRoducE Actionable poLicy Insights that enable a sound balance between Security and opEnness (REALISE) of the EU Research and Innovation Ecosystems (RIEs). Planetary tensions have exposed EU vulnerabilities and elevated technology sovereignty to the top of policy agendas, placing both European and global RIEs at risk. Scientific globalism and open RIEs are now contested spaces increasingly being viewed through the lens of protectionism. This shift endangers the EU’s long-held principles of free exchange and collaboration in science, technology, and innovation (STI), and compromises its global competitiveness. Achieving a sound balance between security and openness (S&O) in RIEs is imperative. This requires RIEs to adjust to complex and fast-changing geopolitical dealings, while contending with fragmented and often impractical guidance, leaving the research community struggling with adoption and implementation. Without an immediate action, this new techno-nationalism trend, especially in critical areas like semiconductors, risks spreading into other fields of research, jeopardizing science as a universal public good essential for dealing with global challenges. To counter these issues, REALISE will pursue two Specific Objectives (SOs): first, it will break new ground in the current European and global scholarly understanding of technological sovereignty and its impact on RIEs. Second, it will develop tools to upskill RIEs current and future researchers and research managers (RMs), thus enabling the effective balancing of S&O in RIEs at the EU supranational level.