A new report by the European Commission shows advanced materials could help the EU close innovation gaps and strengthen industrial competitiveness.
With intensifying global competition and geopolitical tensions, the European Union is struggling to maintain its leadership position in innovation and is lagging behind in developing technologies that could support long-term growth and autonomy. Persistent gaps in innovation and productivity separate the EU from its main competitors, particularly the United States and China, and recent global political and economic shifts further amplify the need for technological and industrial change. Within this context, a recent report published by the DG RTD and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) uses patent data to position EU innovation globally and sheds light on avenues to boost competitiveness. The report shows that advanced materials emerge as a key strategic asset that has the potential to transform industries ranging from energy storage and generation to healthcare and transportation, and that they are essential for the adoption of renewable energy, for improving industrial efficiency, and for sustainable growth. As such, advanced materials represent a foundational technology domain through which the EU could reinforce its competitiveness and industrial leadership.
This focus on advanced materials reflects a broader shift in EU strategy. European innovation policy is moving away from broad, sector-wide support toward a more focused and targeted, challenge-driven approach to competitiveness. Advanced materials sit at the centre of this reorientation. Advanced materials are defined as new or emerging manufactured technologies, as well as enhanced traditional materials whose properties have been significantly improved. Their production involves adding new properties, strengthening existing ones, or achieving substantial performance gains, and they are widely used across pharmaceuticals, agriculture, healthcare, artificial intelligence, and defence. With the Communication on “Advanced Materials for Industrial Leadership” (COM (2024) 98), the Materials 2030 Manifesto, and the forthcoming flagship Advanced Materials Act, advanced materials exemplify the enabling technology the EU aims to prioritise under its new competitiveness compass. They align closely with Europe’s objectives of strengthening strategic autonomy, supporting the green and digital transitions, and securing long-term industrial resilience.
The report approaches the European innovation and competitiveness gap by analysing the technological and productive ecosystems of the EU economy. Covering the period from 2000 to 2021, it uses European patent data to identify existing capabilities, latent strengths, and emerging opportunities for innovation and competitiveness. Patents are treated as a proxy for innovative activity, allowing for consistent comparisons across countries and technologies. Central to the analysis is the Economic Complexity framework, which conceptualises innovation as the result of accumulated and recombined capabilities and connections rather than isolated breakthroughs. By examining how technologies are linked within an economy, the framework helps identify realistic pathways for diversification and reveals where Europe is most likely to develop future technological advantages, particularly in advanced materials.
The patent data shows that since 2000, the EU has made only modest progress in diversifying beyond its traditional areas of industrial specialisation. Europe continues to lead in three of eight broad technological areas: performing operations (technologies related to shaping, mixing, printing and transporting), textiles, and mechanical engineering. These reflect the strength of the unions’ manufacturing base, but also point to a risk of technological focus on mature, process-oriented industries. At the same time, the data reveals the rapid rise of China as an innovation powerhouse. China has expanded its patenting activity at scale and overtaken both the EU and the United States in several technological fields, reshaping the global innovation landscape.
Within this broader picture, advanced materials present a mixed performance for the EU. Despite their strategic importance, the EU currently accounts for just over 15 per cent of global advanced materials patents. Europe leads in composites and biomaterials and has made progress in micromaterials, but it lags behind in nanomaterials and fibres. Nanomaterials, which involve engineering materials at extremely small scales to expose new properties, are particularly critical for future high-tech applications, and here China shows the strongest performance, alongside leadership in miniaturisation technologies more broadly.
Crucially, the report argues that the EU’s innovation gap is not excessive. Using the Economic Complexity framework, it shows that opportunities exist when technological linkages are effectively exploited. In particular, glass, cement, and biomaterials emerge as areas of opportunity given their proximity to Europe’s existing technological capabilities and industrial strengths. These areas offer realistic pathways for diversification, allowing the EU to build on what it already does well while moving into more strategic segments of advanced materials.
The key conclusion of the report is that the EU remains a global innovation leader, together with the United States and China accounting for more than half of global patent filings. However, sustaining this position will require a more targeted and strategic approach to technology development. Advanced materials represent a concrete opportunity to close parts of the innovation gap, strengthen industrial competitiveness, and support Europe’s transition toward a more resilient and sustainable growth model. By aligning policy instruments, industrial ecosystems, and regional capabilities around advanced materials, the report concludes that the EU can leverage its existing strengths while positioning itself more effectively in the technologies that will shape future global competition.