ADAPT UCD academic Aphra Kerr participated as a panellist at the European Research and Innovation Days 2026, the European Commission’s flagship research and innovation event, which took place in Brussels and online.
The session examined how Europe could translate its world-class research and talent into technological leadership, strengthening its technological sovereignty and global competitiveness.
Discussions explored how artificial intelligence (AI) was transforming scientific research by accelerating discovery, improving research productivity and enabling new scientific methods. Panellists also considered how Europe could better connect frontier research, talent, data and computing infrastructure with technology development, deployment and commercial scale-up.
The session addressed a key challenge for Europe: how to close the gap between scientific excellence and technological innovation, and how AI could help accelerate the journey from research discovery to real-world application.
Now in its seventh edition, European Research and Innovation Days brought together policymakers, researchers, innovators, business leaders and civil society representatives to discuss the role of research and innovation in strengthening Europe’s competitiveness, resilience and technological sovereignty.
