EFI Report 2026 published

Exper­ten­kom­mis­si­on For­schung und Inno­va­ti­on pres­ents Report to the Fede­ral Govern­ment:

The Exper­ten­kom­mis­si­on For­schung und Inno­va­ti­on (EFI) pre­sen­ted its annu­al report in mid-Febru­ary 2026 to Fede­ral Chan­cell­or Fried­rich Merz and Fede­ral Minis­ter of Rese­arch, Tech­no­lo­gy and Space (BMFTR) Doro­thee Bär. Sin­ce 2008, the six-mem­ber com­mis­si­on has been advi­sing the Fede­ral Govern­ment on mat­ters rela­ting to rese­arch, inno­va­ti­on, and tech­no­lo­gy poli­cy. In its cur­rent report, EFI recom­mends, among other things, that spen­ding on secu­ri­ty and defen­se be deploy­ed in a tar­ge­ted and effi­ci­ent man­ner in order to streng­then inno­va­ti­on impul­ses and safe­guard Germany’s tech­no­lo­gi­cal per­for­mance and eco­no­mic com­pe­ti­ti­ve­ness.

The cur­rent report focu­ses in par­ti­cu­lar on the fol­lo­wing deve­lo­p­ments and chal­lenges: the imple­men­ta­ti­on of the High­tech Agen­da Deutsch­land adopted by the Fede­ral Govern­ment at the end of July 2025, secu­ri­ty-rela­ted rese­arch and inno­va­ti­on, Euro­pean rese­arch and inno­va­ti­on poli­cy, and the 28th regime for the Euro­pean sin­gle mar­ket. In addi­ti­on, EFI ana­ly­zes key struc­tu­ral issues, inclu­ding inno­va­ti­on in SMEs, com­pe­ti­ti­on and inno­va­ti­on within the Ger­man hig­her edu­ca­ti­on sys­tem, as well as deve­lo­p­ments and appli­ca­ti­ons of arti­fi­ci­al intel­li­gence (AI) in Ger­ma­ny and Euro­pe.

Against the back­drop of incre­asing geo­po­li­ti­cal ten­si­ons and the asso­cia­ted stra­te­gic and tech­no­lo­gi­cal chal­lenges facing Germany’s R&I sys­tem, the expert com­mis­si­on empha­si­zes the need for decisi­ve action and clo­se coope­ra­ti­on bet­ween poli­cy­ma­kers, indus­try, and aca­de­mia. To redu­ce stra­te­gic and tech­no­lo­gi­cal depen­den­ci­es, it recom­mends a stron­ger focus on key and future tech­no­lo­gies. The Fede­ral Govern­ment con­siders the report as con­fir­ma­ti­on of its inno­va­ti­on poli­cy cour­se: the aim of the High­tech Agen­da Deutsch­land, Fede­ral Minis­ter Doro­thee Bär sta­ted, is to set clear prio­ri­ties, acce­le­ra­te inno­va­ti­on pro­ces­ses, and invest stra­te­gi­cal­ly in future tech­no­lo­gies, inclu­ding Quan­tum Tech­no­lo­gies. Fur­ther infor­ma­ti­on on the EFI annu­al report can be found here.

 

Source refe­ren­ces: https://www.zew.de/en/press/latest-press-releases/efi-report-presented-to-german-chancellor; https://www.uni-passau.de/bereiche/presse/pressemeldungen/meldung/efi-gutachten-2026-forschung-und-innovation-als-sicherheitsfaktor-fuer-deutschland