HORIZON BLOG: European R&D policy newsbytes (archived)

In a summit this week, EU member states are expected to adopt a declaration on the future sustainability and decarbonisation of aviation, which will aim to create a joint platform involving public and private actors from across the aviation sector. 

The two-day Aviation Summit is part of the six-month French presidency of the EU council of member states. It’s held in Toulouse, which is also the site of the headquarters of the French aerospace giant Airbus. 

In December, the European Commission launched an industrial partnership for greening the aviation sector under the EU’s seven year Horizon Europe research programme. The Clean Aviation partnership will inject around €4 billion, provided jointly by the EU and industry, into projects aiming to decarbonise planes. 

Digital Europe industry association has published 24 targets for the EU and US to strive for in their joint dialogue on technology, including launching for major semiconductor R&D projects by 2030.

The association set out the targets ahead of meeting in May, calling for a strong tech alliance in cybersecurity, cloud computing, semiconductors and other areas as well as alignment around competition policies.

The targets include developing joint rulebooks for cloud computing, AI and cybersecurity, promoting digital inclusion, developing common principles for a safer internet, establishing a green technology alliance, and launching four major co-funded semiconductor R&D projects by the end of the decade.

The European Commission proposed to set up the transatlantic technology alliance a year ago to enable the EU and the US to jointly address global innovation issues and set joint standards on technologies such as 5G mobile networks, artificial intelligence and data flows, areas in which China is the main global competitor.

The Coimbra group of universities is offering almost 80 mobility scholarships for young researchers and staff from universities in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the European Neighbourhood.  

The scholarships finance short-term research visits to 20 participating European universities in a bid to help scholars from abroad establish academic and research contacts in Europe and make their research more international. 

The deadline for submissions is 15 April 2022

The German research ministry’s Parliamentary State Secretary Thomas Sattelberger has a new role representing the state when it comes to research transfer into the market. 

The position has been created by the country’s new coalition government to improve the way research is translated into innovation. Today, research results in Germany, and other parts of Europe, often go unused or are taken up very slowly compared to other parts of the world. 

Sattelberger, whose official title is now Parliamentary State Secretary and Commissioner for Transfer and Spin-offs from Science, “will develop, coordinate and represent essential transfer and spin-off activities from science to application in the future,” the government’s press release said.  

Germany's new traffic light coalition appointed Sattelberger to replace Christian democrat Thomas Rachel as parliamentary state secretary following its victory against the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) last year. 

The Hungarian presidency of the Visegrad group is organising a meeting aimed at boosting regional cooperation in hydrogen technologies.

Hydrogen is expected to play a significant role in Europe’s transition to greener energy and countries in central Europe are putting the technology on their policy agenda.

According to the group, research and innovation in the field of hydrogen has become a as governments and research agencies are coming up with national strategies and encourage cross-border cooperation.

More details about the evens are available here.

Slovenian universities decry the government’s political interference in the appointment of a new director at the helm of the Slovenian Research Agency.

Mitja Lainščak was appointed by the board of the agency on Saturday, a few days after the government had replaced four members of the board. The universities said the appointment was not transparent and call on the government to not interfere in the work of the research agency.

Last week, members of the Slovenian Rectors’ Conference have called on the government to draw up a national development strategy for universities, which would contribute to transferring knowledge into the economy.

“We are aware that universities must respond to the needs of the labour market, but this requires strategic analysis and guidelines covering the whole country,” said Gregor Majdič, rector of the University of Ljubljana. “The young people we educate at our universities can use their potentials to create an economy for higher added value,” said Majdič.

Slovenia has just ended its stint at the helm of the Council of the EU, where science minister Simona Kustec helped negotiate a new governance and policy agenda for the Euroepan Research Area, a plan by the EU to boost R&D performance in member states and to create a single market for research.

Research institutions have submitted 391 proposals worth €555 million under Horizon Europe’s first call for twinning projects, aimed at establishing stronger research and innovation ties between richer and poorer countries in the EU. 

Only 100 proposals will be funded, as the European Commission has allocated a budget of €149 million for this call.

Selected research institutions from the so-called widening countries, which are a group of member states with low levels of national R&D investments, are expected to work together with at least two research institutions from two different EU member states or countries associated to Horizon Europe.

The Commission will announce the results of the call by mid-May and expects the first grant agreements to be signed by the end of August.

Other calls for widening countries are available here.

The European Commission has appointed 15 new members of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE).

The group was set up to give the Commission advice on policies and legislation where ethics and fundamental rights intersect advancements in science and technology.

“The expertise and wisdom of the 15 newly appointed members of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies will help us to put European values at the heart of the green and digital transition,” said Mariya Gabriel, EU Commissioner for innovation, research, culture, education and youth.

A full list of the members is available here.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has concluded a €50 million funding agreement with Starship Technologies, an Estonian autonomous delivery company.

The money will fund research and development, including the building of thousands more robots at Starship's engineering and innovation facility in Tallinn.

“The additional funding will benefit the development of the company's autonomous delivery services, thereby further improving services for consumers and contributing to Europe's ever-growing and vibrant research, technology and innovation ecosystem,” said Paolo Gentiloni, EU commissioner for the economy.

The European Parliament’s industry, research and energy committee (ITRE) has re-elected Romanian MEP Cristian Bușoi as chair for the second half of the legislative term.

The committee is responsible for responsible for industrial policy, EU research and innovation policy, space policy, energy policy and the application of new technologies.

“During this second part of the legislature, the ITRE Committee will be very active in the work related to decarbonization and energy security, as well as in the digital transition. We will remain an involved and demanding partner alongside the Council and the Commission” Bușoi said.

MEPs also re-elected Zdzisław Krasnodębski , Morten Petersen, Patrizia Toia and Lina Gálvez Muñoz as ITRE vice-chairs.