EU to invest $1.5 billion in region’s deep tech sector

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union will invest 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion)next year to support the region’s deep tech research sector, it said on Tuesday, as Europe aims to try and keep up with world leaders the United States and China in the tech arena.

The funding will come from the European Innovation Council (EIC), which is part of the EU’s research and innovation programme, and it represents an increase of nearly 200 million euros in terms of investment compared to 2024.

European politicians have targeted tech and the fast-growing artificial intelligence (AI) sector as one of their key priorities in terms of boosting the region’s sluggish economy.

“The European Innovation Council has emerged as a gamechanger in EU support to breakthrough innovation. In 2025, it will boost EU deep tech with even more resources, amounting to 1.4 billion euros from Horizon Europe, our research and innovation programme,” said EU Commissioner Iliana Ivanova in a statement.

($1 = 0.9257 euros)

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Susan Fenton)