European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented her annual State-of-the-Union speech at the European Parliament plenary in Brussels on 16 September 2026. Her speech, which was well over one hour long, did not mention research explicity, but included references to competitiveness, technology and innovation in several contexts.
Ms von der Leyen stated that "Europe is the home of innovation" and also referred to the Scale-up Europe Fund which had already yielded first investments. She quoted technology start-up ICEYE from Poland / Finland as an example, which had received Horizon Europe funds before.
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/fs_26_1885