Europe must set its own robotics agenda
In its Vienna Statement, euRobotics, the European robotics association, argues that Europe faces stern tests to its sovereignty and resilience in the face of complex present and emerging climatic, demographic and geo-political challenges. Robotics provides convincing responses to each of these, but its success in doing so will depend on a favourable environment that politicians and policymakers must deliver.
euRobotics makes this urgent call for institutions and policymakers to acknowledge the essential role of robotics in helping to solve these challenges and consequently by creating the conditions that will help Europe’s robotics community to advance the solutions appropriately and at the necessary speed.
The euRobotics Vienna Statement has been published against the background of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), an influential gathering of nearly 8,000 members of the global robotics community which is taking place this week at the Wien Messe in the Austrian capital.
Building on the association’s previous Tallinn Statement (December 2025), this paper sets out the euRobotics community’s position on three questions: Where are robots mission-critical for European sovereignty and resilience? How should AI contribute to these systems, and in some cases where not? And what must we do next to convert European strengths into a strategic global position?
“Our answer is grounded in three principles: robots should work with and for people, not only instead of them; economic viability and sustainability are design requirements, not an afterthought; and the robotics community bears responsibility for the societal and environmental consequences of its work”, says vice president of euRobotics Juha Röning, professor emeritus from the University of Oulu.
The Vienna Statement has been published following several weeks of discussion via the association’s Board of Directors and several of its specific sector-focused topic groups and therefore reflects broad consensus of opinion within the euRobotics community.
About euRobotics:
euRobotics (euRobotics) is an international non-profit association for all stakeholders in European robotics, headquartered in Brussels. Established in September 2012 and serving its founding purpose: to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness and to ensure industrial leadership of manufacturers, providers and end-users of robotics technology-based systems and services, euRobotics forms the largest network of roboticists and business in Europe with more than 200 institutional members, covering small and large companies, associations and institutions, universities, laboratories and RTOs. The objectives of euRobotics are to boost European robotics research, development and innovation, to foster a positive perception of robotics, to support the widest and most effective uptake of robotics technologies and services for professional and private use, and to ensure the excellence of the robotics science base in Europe is maintained.
Robotics research at the University of Oulu has a long tradition
The mission of the Robotics Group is to study and develop methods, theories, sensors and platforms for creating mobile robots that are adaptive and capable of performing purposeful tasks in cooperation with humans. The group has participated many robotic EU framework projects and has been granted funded research from Tekes / Business Finland and Academy of Finland for more than ten million euros. Robotics research activity at BISG includes collaboration with processing industry.
It is led by the Biomimetics and Intelligent Systems Group (BISG), where internationally recognized interdisciplinary research is conducted in the fields of data analytics, robotics, secure programming, and bio-IT.