4.1.2. EU Funding for Purpose before Profit

We need to fund social and cultural innovation in concert with technological innovation. Different forms of creativity and transformation need to be combined to move into a brighter future, and funding should be distributed among a broader group of recipients. EU funding for research and innovation must be more easily attainable for civil society organisations, non-profit technology projects, cooperatives and others with a clear mission of green and social change. We need to fund purpose before profit from public money. There must furthermore be democratic oversight of the funding process. The EU should hold stakeholder assemblies for each funding instrument, involving citizens, researchers, NGOs and others in assessing impact.

Furthermore, the returns to research and innovation funding should recognise and support the public life and public institutions on which they depend, e.g. universities, and the collaboration and collective creativity that made them possible. Today if a product is innovated with EU funding the profits of its marketisation are completely privatised.  We propose that a dedicated percentage of returns from these publicly-supported products contribute to the fund for the universal basic dividend as set out in DiEM25’s European New Deal. This gives society a fair return on its public investment in technological development.