The EU actively promotes research, job creation and innovation through better and safer robots, while safeguarding ethical aspects of the progress achieved.
The importance of robotics lies in its wide-ranging impact on Europe's capacity to maintain and expand a competitive manufacturing sector with millions of related jobs at stake. Robotics also offers new solutions to societal challenges from ageing to health, smart transport, security, energy and environment.
The European Commission's focus is on building on our continuous effort to develop a strong scientific base for pushing the limits of the technology, and exploiting such results in real world applications.
Why fund robotics research & innovation?
- Essential for productivity and competitiveness
- Reindustrialisation, ageing workforce
- Essential to address societal challenges
- Health, ageing population, environment, security
- Growth potential
- Service markets, double-digit growth
- Autonomous systems transforming ICT, automotive and other sectors
- Key driver of digital innovation
Robotics is a fast developing market increasingly driven by the development of novel and improved products in areas as diverse as manufacturing, search, rescue and retrieval, inspection and monitoring, surgery and healthcare, homes and cars, transport and logistics, agriculture, and many more.
The rapid increase in the use of robots in our homes and at work, in hospitals and industrial environments provides an inspiring vision about how they can benefit society as a whole. It also raises the question of how priorities to stimulate robotics should be defined at this point in their evolution, to best develop the potential for growth, jobs and innovation in Europe.
European Action
Through a portfolio of over 120 research projects and coordination actions, the European Commission has progressively built up a solid base of knowledge-sharing and cooperation across the entire robotics stakeholder community. This base now includes a public-private-partnership on robotics called SPARC.
This work is undertaken in close collaboration with the robotics community, including Member States programmes, industry, universities and research institutions.
Latest News
The European Commission has launched two new calls under the ‘Digital, Industry and Space’ cluster of the Horizon Europe Work Programme, allocating €307.3 million to bolster Europe’s digital innovation and competitiveness.
On 28 October, the Commission brought together top-tier private investors from across Europe to jointly express their intention to establish the Scaleup Europe Fund – a new, multi-billion fund to invest in the most promising European companies in strategic deep tech areas.
The first report on the State of the Digital Decade, published earlier this week, provides a comprehensive look at progress towards achieving the digital transformation to empower a more digitally sovereign, resilient, and competitive EU.
The Commission has adopted the main Horizon Europe work programme 2023-24, with around €13.5 billion to support researchers and innovators in Europe to pursue breakthrough solutions for environmental, energy, digital and geopolitical challenges.
Last update
27 March 2026