The European Research Executive Agency (REA) has published its report on the Talent Ecosystems cluster event, and DeepTechSeeds features throughout.
On 29 September 2026, the ten Horizon Europe Talent Ecosystems projects met in Brussels with REA and DG RTD to share their first results, give feedback to policy and discuss how future grants can have more impact. DeepTechSeeds co-led one of the event’s three main sessions, together with CROSS and SMART Researchers.
The report, Talent Ecosystems: Building Sustainable Research Careers, by Jürgen Janger and Gareth O’Neill, gives an overview of what the projects are doing. It highlights several DeepTechSeeds activities:
• a matchmaking platform connecting researchers with employers, one of the four flagship platforms in the cluster;
• adapting the principles of the Charter for Researchers to deep tech;
• hiring scorecards that value placements, patents and start-ups alongside publications;
• entrepreneurship and IP training, with a target of 500 researchers;
• matchmaking events with the Eclipse Foundation, and an Open Challenge pairing researcher teams with SME mentors.
The report also cites evidence from our survey: fewer than a quarter of respondents had received any formal IP training. It is a clear sign of why our training programme matters.
Its policy messages fit our work closely: careers cannot be shaped at project level alone, entrepreneurial and intersectoral experience should count in research careers, and project platforms should connect with the ERA Talent Platform and EURAXESS.
📄Read the full report: https://doi.org/10.2848/0837727
Source: Janger, J. & O’Neill, G. (2026), Talent Ecosystems: Building Sustainable Research Careers, European Research Executive Agency, doi:10.2848/0837727. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Cover image © European Union, 2026.
Gallery credit line (please show under the gallery): Screenshots from Janger, J. & O’Neill, G. (2026), Talent Ecosystems: Building Sustainable Research Careers, REA, doi:10.2848/0837727, CC BY 4.0. Highlighting added by DeepTechSeeds. © European Union, 2026.