The National Innovators Council participated on January 18 2017 as invited, to the government's closed hearing at Rosenbad, for the development of Sweden's position paper on the EU's 9:th Research and Innovation Framework Program, which follows Horizon 2020.

The Innovators Council constituted one of more than 30 invited organizations and institutions such as Vinnova, Tillväxtverket, Forte, Formas, Swedish Research Council, Energy Agency, Space Agency, IVA, RISE, SACO, Technical Companies, Swedish Enterprise, ABB, Ericsson, Astra Zeneca, Volvo, Universities of Sweden etc.

The Innovators Council expressed the importance of the next framework program verifying the origins of innovation before implementing the financial support models. The Council's spokesman referred to innovation researcher Charles Edquist (Lund University, Circle, National Innovation Council) who proposes that research policy be kept apart from innovation policy.

Edquist notes that the EU's current innovation policy is unfortunately based on the view that innovation is mainly due to linear academic research.

The Innovators Council pointed out at the hearing that the individual innovator / inventor - most often outside the academic environment - has always been central to industrial, technical and societal growth through innovation, and that the EU's next framework program therefore must be rooted in this fact.