11 October 2026:
On 29 and 30 September 2026, EARPA held its Autumn Meeting 2026 event at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Brussels.
The two-day event attracted nearly 200 participants, which included EARPA Members and professionals from the European road mobility and R&I automotive sector.
Day 1:
Foresight Groups, Collaborative Research Groups and Networking Reception
The first day of the event was dedicated to EARPA Members, consisting of workshop sessions focused on EARPA position papers and collaboration opportunities for calls related to the Horizon Europe research and innovation framework programme 2026-2027.
The evening reception opened with a speech from EARPA President Michele De Gennaro, he highlighted the crucial role of collaborative automotive research in strengthening Europe’s competitiveness. EARPA is at the heart of these discussions. Our members and experts are helping shape the Strategic Research, Innovation and Deployment Agenda, which will guide priorities for automotive research in the years ahead.
Day 2:
EARPA General Assembly & Meet the Speakers (Foresight Groups)
Day 2 of the event kicked off with the General Assembly session. The Foresight Groups also updated the members concerning their latest activities in the Meet the Speakers section.
Keynote, Plenary Sessions
The keynote speech was delivered by Andrea De Candido (European Commission) concerning policy updates from the EU.
Following this, there was a lively panel discussion focused on the Expert Group on European Union Research and Innovation for the Automotive Sector (EURIAS).
The panel explored how EURIAS is helping shape the future of the European automotive sector through strategic research, innovation and deployment.
It was moderatored, Andrea De Candido, European Commission, and included the following speakers:
🔹 Dr. Franz Geyer, BMW Group – Electric Vehicle Technologies
🔹 Cathy Batisson, Renault – Digital and Connected Vehicles
🔹 Emilia Romero, Applus+ IDIADA – Road Mobility Ecosystem
🔹 Thilo Bein, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft – Automotive Industrial Processes
It was an insightful discussion on the research and innovation priorities shaping Europe’s automotive future, from technologies and industrial processes to system integration, faster market deployment and affordable mobility.
How can Europe ensure its research and technology infrastructure is ready for the automotive technologies of tomorrow?
The final session of the EARPA Autumn Meeting 2026 brought together experts from across Europe to explore the future of Automotive Research & Technology Infrastructures (RTIs).
The panel explored how Europe can strengthen access to testing, validation and demonstration capabilities, bridge the gap between research and industrial scale-up, and ensure RTIs keep pace with the rapid transformation of the automotive sector.
Discussions covered long-term funding, cross-border collaboration, skills and talent, digitalisation and AI, as well as how FP10 can better support shared infrastructure and Europe’s industrial competitiveness.
A key theme throughout: building a more connected, agile and industry-aligned European RTI ecosystem capable of supporting the technologies of tomorrow.
Thanks to the moderator, Fredrik Harrysson (RISE Research Institutes of Sweden) and speakers, Szilvia Németh (European Commission), Muriel Attané (EARTO – European Association of Research and Technology Organisations), Horst Pfluegl (AVL), Adam Andersson (RISE Research Institutes of Sweden) and Kay Gade (ECTRI).
The photos from the event can be found here.
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