Industry is experiencing fundamental changes in its operations, structure, mores and economies. These changes are caused by intensification of international competition; restructuring of several large economic blocks; changing societal values; and new organizational paradigms. The following is a terse, condensed summary of what the author sees as twelve major changes affecting the European research establishment in the coming years. This is a strictly private view, based on personal experience gained from working in European, US and Japanese industries, and several European universities and research centres.