EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities – “Science comes to town 2027”

1. Single Market Access & Audience Reach

• Engage directly with 450+ million citizens across 27 Member States and 18+ Associated Countries through a coordinated, year-long programme.

• Create a trans-European brand comparable to the European Capital of Culture, generating visibility for participating cities, sponsors and R&I institutions in tourism, talent attraction and investment promotion markets.

• Provide industry partners with a pan-EU test-bed for citizen-centric science communication tools, ed-tech solutions and interactive exhibits, de-risking commercial roll-out EU-wide.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange

• Mandatory consortium of 3–6 cities fosters structured cooperation among municipal authorities, universities, science centres, SMEs and civil society from different national contexts.

• Joint delivery of EUCYS & EU TalentOn catalyses networking among next-generation researchers, enabling the formation of transnational project teams eligible for later Horizon Europe, EIC Pathfinder/Transition or Erasmus+ Youth funding.

• Opportunity to exchange best practices with the 2026 host cities, forming a growing community of practice that can influence future ERA policy on science outreach and citizen engagement.

3. Alignment with Flagship EU Policies

• European Research Area (ERA): Directly implements ERA Policy Agenda Action 14 “Bring science closer to citizens”.

• European Green Deal & Missions: Activities can showcase local Climate-Neutral & Smart Cities Mission projects, Horizon Europe climate adaptation & soil health research, creating narrative coherence and political support.

• Digital Europe & Data Spaces: Use of open-source platforms, AR/VR, AI-driven engagement tools strengthens Digital Europe objectives and demonstrates responsible data-governance models.

• Skills Agenda & Talent Booster: EUCYS & TalentOn promote STEM careers, aligning with the 2024 European Year of Skills legacy and the Pact for Skills.

4. Regulatory Harmonisation & Standard Setting

• EU framework for prizes (Art.206‐208 FR) simplifies financial support to third parties, allowing uniform competition rules and IP terms across all participating countries.

• Common GDPR compliance guidelines, Horizon Europe ethics standards and EU accessibility norms minimise legal fragmentation for organisers and exhibitors.

• A shared impact-assessment methodology (open science metrics, citizen-science KPIs) can become a de-facto EU standard for public-engagement evaluation.

5. Integration in the European Innovation Ecosystem

• Access to 3,000+ Horizon Europe research projects producing exploitable results that can feed exhibitions, citizen-science hackathons and school challenges.

• Collaboration with European Researchers’ Night (1.5 million visitors) and MSCA “Researchers at Schools” networks multiplies outreach without duplicating costs.

• Link to European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) KICs for entrepreneurship mentoring during EU TalentOn, creating a seamless pipeline from idea to market.

• Alignment with Science Europe, LIBER and SPARC Europe can mainstream open-science practices showcased during the events.

6. Funding Synergies & Leverage Potential

• Horizon Europe CSA grant (indicative €3–4 million) can be matched with:

• Cohesion Policy (ERDF) funds for science-centre infrastructure upgrades in participating regions (Smart Specialisation Strategies).

• Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnerships for teacher-training modules attached to citizen-science activities.

• Creative Europe for science-art co-productions, touring across consortium cities.

• Interreg Europe or URBACT for policy-learning among additional “satellite” cities.

• Private sponsorship from pan-European corporates (telecoms, pharma, space, clean-tech) benefiting from EU-wide visibility.

• Result: possibility to double or triple the operational budget and extend geographic coverage beyond the mandatory 3–6 cities.

7. Scalability, Replicability & Long-Term Impact

• EU trademark potential: A strong “Science comes to town” brand can be registered and licensed to future host cities, generating self-sustaining revenue streams.

• Harmonised event toolkit (common visual identity, open-source engagement apps, GDPR-compliant participant registry) enables rapid replication in non-host cities and candidate countries.

• Measurable contribution to widening participation in R&I (WIDERA) by purposely including cities from modest & moderate Innovation Scoreboard categories, thus reducing intra-EU innovation divide.

• Legacy assets (open educational resources, exhibit designs, citizen-science datasets) remain freely reusable under Creative Commons licences, extending impact well beyond the 24-30 month project period.

8. Strategic Recommendations for Applicants

• Prioritise geographic diversity: Combine at least one capital or large metropolitan area with medium-sized and peripheral cities to illustrate pan-European inclusiveness.

• Embed Mission-oriented showcases: Curate activities that explicitly link local research projects to EU Missions (e.g., soil health test plots, smart-city digital twins) to attract additional Commission services’ support.

• Design an EU-level sponsorship package: Offer tiered benefits (EU-wide branding, recruitment fairs, data insights) to multinational companies, leveraging single-market reach.

• Plan a mobility & logistics framework: Exploit Green Deal objectives by using rail/low-carbon transport for inter-city touring exhibitions, qualifying for additional CEF Transport or LIFE programme co-funding.

• Establish an Impact & Replicability Board with representatives from 2026 and future 2028 host cities, ERA Forum, JRC and citizen-science NGOs to co-create standards and ensure continuity.

Bottom Line: Operating at EU scale transforms “Science comes to town 2027” from a local science festival into a continental platform that amplifies citizen engagement, accelerates talent circulation, leverages multiple EU policy agendas and financing instruments, and sets the blueprint for a sustainable, branded European science-society interface.