The FUTURINNOV project supports the European Innovation Council (EIC) in building strategic intelligence capacity through foresight and other anticipatory approaches. This is  done through activities to identify funding priorities, inform programme design, contribute to policy feedback, and develop institutional governance. The main objectives are to:

• Provide short and medium-term future-oriented evidence-based advice on signals and trends of emerging technologies, breakthrough innovation, and investment patterns;

• Support the development of long-term EIC strategic intelligence, grounded in anticipatory, collective, and hybrid methods, towards knowledge transfer and capacity building; and

• Explore innovative anticipatory thinking and future-oriented methodologies to support EIC in its mission as a funding body and a knowledge- provider for policy design and implementation.

Outputs of the FUTURINNOV project will include three literature reviews identifying and analysing signals of emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations as well as findings from horizon scanning workshops. 

Eyes on the Future: Volume 1

Eyes on the Future - Signals from recent reports on emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations to support European Innovation Council strategic intelligence - Volume 1

The report provides a literature review of publications authored by numerous external organisations. It summarises 34 signals and trends of emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations across the 11 primary categories of a taxonomy defined by the European Innovation Council (EIC). The authors investigate not only what is deemed most novel in multiple application domains but what is worth the attention of European Union (EU) policy audiences involved with priority-setting and decision-making. 

 
The literature review 

(1) reviews and evaluates 186 reports and articles on emerging technologies, 

(2) captures 489 signals, of which 86 have been short-listed and 34 selected for this report, 

(3) creates an internal database of signals which is used to digest and analyse the evolution of signals and novel technologies 

(4) connects signals with EIC portfolios and other European Commission (EC) initiatives such as policies surrounding critical technologies and Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) investments that, together with the primary and secondary levels of the EIC taxonomy, provide multiple types of analysis and insights 

(5) draws conclusions that aim to support the EIC’s funding prioritisation and additionally, provide reflections on EIC portfolio setting.

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Read some insights from the blog Eyes on the Future of Tech 

Eyes on the Future: Volume 2

Eyes on the Future - Signals from recent reports on emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations to support European Innovation Council strategic intelligence - Volume 2

This report provides FUTURINNOV project's  second literature review of third-party reports, in a continuous workstream that surfaces periodically cross-sector emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations.

It summarises findings in a final selection of 30 signals and trends through an iterative methodology focused on their potential impact and novelty. These findings are categorised and analysed across the 10 critical technology areas defined by the European Commission, as well as through other frameworks such as the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform and the EIC’s portfolios and specific taxonomy.
The report concludes with a cross-cutting analysis and offers recommendations to support the EIC’s strategic intelligence, particularly in prioritising innovation funding.
Additionally, it aims to raise awareness among EU policymakers about technological developments that may not yet be widely known.

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Eyes on the Future: Volume 3

Eyes on the Future - Signals from recent reports on emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations to support European Innovation Council strategic intelligence - Volume 3

This literature review report focuses on signals based on emerging technologies developed by non-EU countries and summarises findings in a final selection of 30 signals and trends clustered according to the 10 critical technology areas defined by the European Commission, as well as through other frameworks such as the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform and the EIC’s portfolios and specific taxonomy. The report identifies topics, including climate-adaption tech, neurotech, digital and network security and critical raw materials, as areas deserving of further research and development.

The report provides insights for the EIC to anticipate technological developments and address potential security concerns, ensuring the EU's position at the forefront of global innovation.

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Read dome insights from the blog Early signs of emerging and disruptive innovation from outside the EU

(Dis)Entangling the Future

- Horizon scanning for emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations in the field of quantum technologies

This report documents the process and findings of a horizon scanning exercise, part of a series under the FUTURINNOV. The workshop, held on 24 April 2024, had as its primary goal the evaluation and prioritisation of trends and signals on emerging technologies and breakthrough innovation, across all technology readiness levels (TRLs) and within the EIC's Quantum technologies portfolio.

Signals for the workshop were gathered from experts, literature review, and text/data mining of patents, publications, and EU-funded projects. These signals were then scrutinised for their significance to the field's future by a diverse group of sector experts which led to the identification of nine key topics:

• quantum sensing
• quantum algorithms for lattice-based computational fluid dynamics models
• materials for quantum
• Artificial Intelligence for quantum
• error correction
• solid-state scalability
• quantum for Artificial Intelligence
• quantum as a service – metacloud
• quantum computers                                                                            

Furthermore, the workshop identified additional wild cards with high novel-ty and disruptive potential such as quantum sensing AI on edge and molecular spin qubits.
Participants also highlighted various factors that could influence the development, adoption, and promotion of these emerging technologies, which can be grouped under the following categories: technical advancements; investment and infrastructure support; cross-sector collaboration; regulatory navigation; talent acquisition; market maturity; and application utility.

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Materialising the Future 

- Horizon scanning for emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations in the field of advanced materials for energy

This report documents the process and findings of a horizon scanning exercise, part of a series under the FUTURINNOV project. The workshop, held on 13 May 2024, had as its primary goal the evaluation and prioritisation of trends and signals on emerging technologies and breakthrough innovation, across all technology readiness levels (TRLs), within the EIC's Advanced Materials portfolio and with a particular focus on their use in the Energy sector.

Signals for the workshop were gathered from experts, literature review, and text/data mining of patents, publications, and EU-funded projects. These signals were then scrutinised for their significance to the field's future by a diverse group of sector experts which led to the identification of nine key topics: 

• accelerated material design / synthesis
• biomaterials as part of the circular economy
• advanced materials allowing new applications
• closed loop battery recycling
• innovations in catalysis
• organic batteries for sustainable energy storage
• design to performance batteries
• design to cost batteries

• electrochemical water treatment.

  Furthermore, the workshop identified additional wild cards with high novelty and disruptive potential such as: circularity of materials (safe and sustainable by design); membranes / separators; process optimisation; 3D printing of electrode materials for energy and environmental engineering applications; and use of AI for the study of materials. Participants also highlighted various factors that could influence the development, adoption, and promotion of these emerging technologies.

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Imagine the future 

-Horizon scanning for emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations
in the field of medical imaging and AI

This report documents the process and findings of a horizon scanning exercise, part of a series under the FUTURINNOV project. The workshop, held on 17 September 2024, had as its primary goal the evaluation and prioritisation of trends and signals on emerging technologies and breakthrough innovation, across all technology readiness levels (TRLs), within the EIC's Medical Imaging and AI portfolio.

Signals for the workshop were gathered from experts, literature review, and text/data mining of patents, publications, and EU-funded projects. These signals were then scrutinised for their significance to the field's future by a diverse group of sector experts which led to the identification of eight key topics:  

• 

  generative AI for healthcare

• digital twins; multimodal data analysis
• explainable AI in medical imaging
• application of AI to specific diseases/conditions
• XR - augmented and virtual realities
• tensor-valued diffusion encoding
• AI-generated synthetic data for training AI 

Furthermore, the workshop identified additional wild cards with high novelty and disruptive potential such as: blockchain, edge computing and differential privacy for secure, AI-driven medical imaging and collaborative healthcare optimisation and quantum medical imaging.

Participants also highlighted various factors that could influence the development, adoption, and promotion of these emerging technologies, which can be grouped under the following categories: Technological advancements and cross-sector applications; data infrastructure, AI models, and regulatory frameworks; workforce, education and societal factors; clinical efficiency and patient outcomes; trust, ethics, and AI adoption; financial pressures and industry investment in AI healthcare.

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Mobilising the Future 

- Horizon scanning for emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations in the field of mobility

This report documents the process and findings of a horizon scanning exercise, part of a series under the FUTURINNOV. The workshop, held on 16 October 2024, had as its primary goal the evaluation and prioritisation of trends and signals on emerging technologies and breakthrough innovation, across all technology readiness levels (TRLs), within the broad Mobility domain, broken-down into four key areas: 

• transport systems, networks and multimodality
• automotive and roads
• rail/freight and logistics
• aviation and airport.

Signals for the workshop were gathered from experts, literature review, and text/data mining of patents, publications, and EU-funded projects. These signals were then scrutinised for their significance to the field's future by a diverse group of sector experts which led to the identification of 22 different key topics across the key areas above. These signals can be seen as hotspots of innovation that deserve the EIC’s attention for possible future support.
Participants also highlighted various factors that could influence the development, adoption, and promotion of these emerging technologies, which are presented in the report as drivers, enablers and barriers, and analysed specifically in each of the 4 key areas.

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Securing the Future 

-Horizon scanning for emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations in the field of digital and network security

This science for policy brief documents the process and findings of a horizon scanning exercise, part of a series under the FUTURINNOV. The workshop, held on 13 November 2024, had as its primary goal the evaluation and prioritisation of trends and signals on emerging technologies and breakthrough innovation, across all technology readiness levels (TRLs), within the digital and network security domain. Signals for the workshop were gathered from experts, literature review, and text/data mining of patents, publications, and EU-funded projects. These signals were then scrutinised for their significance to the field's future by a diverse group of sector experts which led to the identification of eight key topics: 

• deepfake detection
• quantum-resistant algorithms
• interoperability for end-to-end encrypted messaging systems
• privacy and security in virtual reality
• false data injection attack detection
• inter-satellite communication
• privacy-preserving machine learning
• tiny solar-powered drones capable of near-perpetual flight 

Participants also highlighted various factors that could influence the development, adoption, and promotion of these emerging technologies including: tensions between privacy and security, emerging geopolitical threats, technological and regulatory enablers, trust and transparency, and the economic barriers that shape technological development and adoption.

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Healing the Future

-Horizon scanning for emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations in the field of cell and gene therapies

This science for policy brief documents the process and findings of a horizon scanning exercise, part of a series under the FUTURINNOV. 

The workshop, held online on 15 May 2025, had as its primary goal the evaluation and prioritisation of trends and signals related to emerging technologies and breakthrough innovation, across all technology readiness levels (TRLs), within cell and gene therapies. Signals for the workshop were gathered from experts, literature review, and text/data mining of patents, publications, and EU-funded projects.
These signals were then scrutinised for their significance to the field's future by a diverse group of sector experts, which led to the identification of six key topics: 

• pre-clinical models
• stem cells in multiple applications
• new tools for advanced tissue delivery
• in silico & AI
• conversion of tumour cells
• emerging genome and epigenome-based therapies

Participants also highlighted various contextual factors that could influence the development, adoption, and uptake of emerging technologies within this field, including in domains such as: competitiveness and geopolitics; talent and expertise; cross-border and cross-sector collaboration; funding, economic and market conditions; regulatory, safety and ethical challenges; health and RDI ecosystems; and infrastructure and manufacturing.

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Embodying the Future

-Horizon scanning for emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations in the field of human-like AI systems

This technology foresight brief documents the process and findings of a horizon scanning exercise, part of a series under the FUTURINNOV. 

The workshop, held online on 19 June 2025, had as its primary goal the evaluation and prioritisation of trends and signals related to emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations across all technology readiness levels (TRLs) within human-like AI systems. Signals for the workshop were gathered from experts, literature review, and text/data mining of patents, publications, and EU-funded projects.

These signals were then scrutinised for their significance to the field's future by a diverse group of sector experts, which led to the identification of twelve key topics: enhancing human-AI collaboration; trustworthy and explainable AI; neurosymbolic AI; general-purpose neuro-symbolic methods; personalised medicine; embodied intelligence; emotion-aware AI; multi-agent frameworks; human-AI collective cognition; brain-inspired AI; addressing AI’s energy demand; and next generation LLMs.

Several contextual factors that shape the development and uptake of AI are highlighted across social, technological, economical, environmental and political and regulatory domains, including: AI literacy; inter-disciplinary and inclusive development of models; benchmarking practices; and sustainability.
 

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Observing the Future

-Horizon scanning for emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations in the field of ocean observation

This technology foresight brief documents the process and findings of a horizon scanning exercise, part of a series under the FUTURINNOV. 

The workshop, held online on 12 November 2025, focused on the identification, evaluation, and prioritisation of emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations across all technology readiness levels (TRLs) in the field of ocean observation. Signals were collected through expert inputs, literature review, and text and data mining of patents, scientific publications, and EU-funded research and innovation projects. 

These signals were subsequently assessed by a multidisciplinary group of experts, leading to the prioritisation of eight key observation technologies: autonomous eDNA and eRNA samplers; lab-on-chip systems; cost-effective and modular sensors; data fusion between Earth observation and in-situ measurements; distributed acoustic sensing; AI-enhanced passive acoustic sensing; deep learning-enabled imaging; and flow cytometry and particle-based high-frequency observations of plankton. 

In addition, four enabling technological and innovation fields were identified as critical for advancing ocean observation capabilities: expanding in-situ observation infrastructures; data interoperability and integration; autonomous surface and underwater vehicles; and artificial intelligence. The brief also highlights a range of contextual factors shaping the development and uptake of ocean observation technologies across social, technological, economic, environmental, and political and regulatory dimensions. These include challenges related to data standards and taxonomic expertise, tensions between budget constraints and increasing monitoring demands, the need for real-time detection in the face of accelerating environmental change, and geopolitical dynamics influencing international cooperation and the governance of dual-use technologies. 

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Read our blog

Powering the Future

-Horizon scanning for emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations in the field of mid- to long-duration energy storage

This technology foresight report presents the process and findings of a Horizon Scanning exercise conducted in the context of FUTURINNOV. 

The workshop, held online on 4 February 2026, focused on the identification, evaluation, and prioritisation of emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations across all technology readiness levels (TRLs) in the field of mid- to long-duration energy storage. Signals were collected through expert inputs, desk research, and text and data mining of patents, scientific publications, and EU-funded research and innovation projects.

These signals were subsequently assessed by a multidisciplinary group of experts, leading to the prioritisation of a diverse set of energy storage technologies. These include electrochemical solutions such as solid-state, sodium-ion, and flow batteries; thermal systems such as Carnot and thermophotovoltaic heat batteries; and mechanical and hybrid approaches including pumped storage hydropower and battolyser architectures. In addition, several enabling technological and innovation areas were identified as critical to advancing the field, including developments in digital technologies, CRM-free and recyclable materials, advanced heat exchange and heating systems, and second-life batteries for hybridisation.

The report also highlights a range of contextual factors shaping the development and deployment of energy storage technologies across social, technological, economic, environmental, and policy domains. These include infrastructure readiness, circularity and end-of-life management, environmental impacts, and regulatory and permitting frameworks. The findings point to an increasingly diversified and interconnected portfolio of energy storage solutions, where convergence and hybridisation across technologies are becoming central.
The outcomes of this exercise can inform future EIC Challenges and other European Commission funding calls, contribute to EIC and EC strategic intelligence, and support broader EU policy initiatives related to energy systems, decarbonisation, and industrial competitiveness.

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