This live blog is tracking the latest developments in European research and innovation programmes, including the broader debate on the future of R&D policy and funding in the next multiannual budget due to start in 2028. Beyond that, we look at other EU policies with significant research and innovation components in climate, digital, agriculture and regional development. In addition, national governments often come up with new R&D policies, decide to fund new research avenues, and set up international cooperation deals. This blog aims to keep you informed on all of that and more.
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On September 17, Masaryk University will bring together researchers, policymakers, universities and funding institutions to discuss the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine’s research and higher education sector.
“Masaryk University [. . .] has stood by the embattled Ukraine since the very first days of the Russian aggression, and our commitment to this support will continue,” said Petr Suchý, Masaryk University’s vice-rector for internationalisation and external relations. “We are now putting the same energy into cooperation that will help to renew and modernise the Ukrainian science, research and education sectors.”
More details here.
The HUN-REN Hungarian Research Network has entered a collaboration with the Center for International Studies (CIS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in efforts to connect MIT faculty and students with Hungarian researchers through joint research projects.
“With the MIT–Hungary HUN-REN Seed Fund, we are investing in new international collaborations at their earliest stage. Our goal is to spark connections that can grow into long-term, large-scale research partnerships between MIT and Hungary–advancing science and innovation on both sides,” said Justin Leahey, assistant director for Global Seed Funds at CIS.
The MIT-Hungary HUN‑REN Seed Fund is part of the MIT Global Seed Funds programme at CIS. It offers up to $25,000 per project to support bilateral travel, workshops and collaborative meetings.
More details here.
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has opened a new community hub in Slovakia designed to boost innovation in the country by providing local innovators, researchers and businesses with EU-wide opportunities.
The hub, which is part of the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme, will therefore connect them with the EIT’s programmes, be it for education and skills development or business creation and innovation support.
“It means that a young founder in Košice, a researcher in Bratislava, or a student with a bold idea can now more easily find support and partners across Europe,” said Ján Oravec, member of the EIT’s governing board.
More details here.
The EU is investing €19 million under Horizon Europe in 10 new projects dedicated to improving working conditions and career prospects for early-stage researchers.
Among the selected projects, ARCOE aims to implement a virtual talent innovation hub that will offer researchers training, networking and career opportunities. Meanwhile, BREATH plans on building a talent ecosystem focused on health innovation in Catalonia, Flanders and Lithuania.
More details here.
The Alliance of Science Organisations in Germany has joined the international coalition for science, research and innovation in Ukraine, which aims to strengthen the country’s research and innovation ecosystem as it recovers from the war.
The coalition, which was launched in July by the European Commission, UNESCO, the Italian Ministry of University and Research and the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science, will support the mobility of Ukrainian scientists and promote the reintegration of Ukrainian science in Europe.
“With the entire alliance joining as a whole, instead of individual organizations, the German research and higher education sector will have a stronger, coordinated body representing its interests within the international coalition and will, in turn, be able to support the coalition more effectively,” the alliance’s statement reads.
Read the full statement here.
The League of European Research Universities (LERU) is proposing a two-track approach for the European Research Area (ERA) policy, as part of its feedback for the European Commission’s future ERA Act.
ERA Track 1 will be the continuation of voluntary and cooperation measures, known as the bottom-up approach, while ERA Track 2 will introduce legislative measures, the top-down approach.
LERU expects ERA Track 2 to be realised through the adoption of the Commission’s ERA Act and other related legislative initiatives.
More details here.
European co-funded biodiversity partnership Biodiversa+ has launched BiodivConnect, a new call dedicated to support research on the restoration of biodiversity in various ecosystems and habitats.
The call, which has a budget of around €40 million, will cover the setting of restoration targets, as well as the transferability and scaling and resilience and sustainability of nature restoration efforts.
More details here.
The Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) is calling for an independent, researcher-centred and better funded Framework Programme to succeed Horizon Europe.
The MCAA advises preserving FP10’s autonomy and bottom-up approach to funding, strengthening researcher careers and mobility, ensuring sufficient investments for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions to meet demand and support Europe’s growing research workforce, and promoting an inclusive European Research Area.
Meanwhile, it raised concerns over the budget proposed by the European Commission in July.
“The proposed FP10 budget of €175 billion, while an increase, remains significantly below the €220 billion recommended by the Heitor Report,” the statement reads. “This potential gap is particularly concerning for programmes like the MSCA.”
Read the full statement here.
The European Commission’s Expert Group on the Economic and Societal Impact of Research and Innovation (ESIR) advises in a new report that EU research and innovation policies consider both the short- and long-term competitiveness of European firms to guarantee a strong financing ecosystem.
“Europe needs layered and structured policy solutions spanning the short, medium, and long term to cultivate a mature, risk-tolerant financing ecosystem,” the report says.
ESIR recommends that on the long-term, the EU streamlines the formation of corporate foundations in efforts to reinforce funding for technological development and innovation; boosts its venture capital ecosystem in the medium term; and finally, on the short-term, proposes attractive stock-option schemes for start-ups.
Read the full report here.
EU research Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have inaugurated Europe’s first exascale supercomputer, known as JUPITER.
Designed by the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC) and funded through the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, JUPITER is the first supercomputer of the continent to be capable of performing one exaflop, which is equivalent to one billion times one billion calculations per second.
“The most complex AI models can now be trained and applied – something that was not possible without JUPITER,” said Thomas Lippert, director of the JSC.
More details here.
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