Research Director of the Cyberagentur at the European Research and Innovation Days in Brussels
The Agentur für Innovation in der Cybersicherheit GmbH (Cyberagentur) was represented by Research Director Prof. Dr. Christian Hummert at the European Research and Innovation Days 2025 in Brussels, one of the key events on the EU’s future research and innovation policy. His appearance highlighted the Cyberagentur’s role as Europe’s leading ARPA-like innovation agency and underlined its strategic positioning in the European innovation discourse.
How can successful methodologies from the US DARPA model be transferred to European structures? This question was the focus of a Fireside Chat between Prof. Dr. Christian Hummert, Research Director of the Cyberagentur, and Anne-Marie Sassen, representing the European Innovation Council (EIC), at the European Research and Innovation Days in Brussels in their joint session “A European ‘ARPA’ approach – funding breakthrough innovations in Europe”.
Prof. Dr. Hummert emphasized that the European Commission had already created the necessary instruments in recent years. It is now crucial to apply these on a larger scale and to build up the corresponding know-how in practice. One example is the Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) award procedure, which was introduced in 2009 but not implemented on a larger scale in Germany by the Cyberagentur until 2022.
“The EIC has achieved great things in the four years of its existence. We are delighted to be able to contribute our experience to the discussions on solutions for the challenges ahead. I am convinced that together we can establish a truly European DARPA model,” explained Prof. Dr. Christian Hummert.
Since 2021, the EIC has been funding disruptive research through grants and equity financing with the aim of transforming radical innovations into marketable products. Through radical innovations, the EIC aims to help secure Europe’s economic importance in the future. The draft for the next Multiannual Financial Framework provides for a significant increase in the budget. In future, the funds are to be increasingly spent via competitive, ARPA-like research funding procedures – a step that should strengthen Europe’s innovative capacity in the long term.
European Research and Innovation Days 2025
The European Commission’s annual flagship event on research and innovation brings together policy makers, researchers, entrepreneurs and civil society to discuss and shape the future of research and innovation in Europe and beyond.
The event serves to shape European research and innovation policy by bringing the various interest groups and the public into dialog. The focus is on strengthening Europe’s competitiveness and sustainability as well as discussing current strategies, including the Startup and Scaleup Strategy, the European Life Sciences Strategy, the AI in Science Strategy and the European Innovation and Research Area Acts.
This year’s European Research and Innovation Days coincide with a crucial phase of discussions on the next EU budget and key policy measures. They provide a platform for the involvement of stakeholders in the strategic direction of EU research funding.
The appearance of Prof. Dr. Christian Hummert as speaker and the presentation of the Cyberagentur as the most ARPA-like innovation agency in Europe underline the strategic positioning of the Cyberagentur in the European innovation discourse.
Further information and registration:
https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/events/european-research-and-innovation-days_en