HORIZON BLOG: European R&D policy newsbytes (Archived_02)

In Canada’s latest big research funding round, over 4,7000 scientists are set to receive CA$960 million through various grants, scholarships and programmes.

The funding includes CA$514 million for discovery research in natural sciences and engineering, over CA$113 million to support 396 research infrastructure projects, CA$133.7 million for professors in the country’s research chairs programme and almost CA$150 million for various social sciences and humanities projects, among others.

Through far-ranging programme, the money will help acquire new tools for researchers, train, attract and retain the next generation of scientists, ensure an inclusive research environment and foster international and domestic partnerships.

UK’s Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC) has announced £1.2 million funding for industrial decarbonisation research projects.

The money will go towards speeding up the decarbonisation of the UK’s major industrial clusters and contribute to reducing industrial emissions by at least two thirds by 2035.

The first two phases of flexible funding will support projects from the Universities of Durham, Cardiff, South Wales, Sussex, Oxford, Strathclyde, Lincoln, Liverpool, and Sheffield as well as Heriot-Watt University and Imperial College London.

Standortagentur Tirol, the regional business promotion agency has signed a new cooperation agreement with EIT manufacturing. Two sides hope to boost support for start-ups, SMEs and research institutions in the manufacturing industry.

“We are proud to be able to support and connect Tyrolean companies at European level through this partnership,” said Johannes Hunschofsky, managing director at EIT Manufacturing East.

“The Standortagentur Tirol is a driver for innovation in the region and the instruments and programmes of EIT Manufacturing will offer additional opportunities for manufacturing companies to develop and implement innovations,” Hunschofsky said.

The Swiss innovation agency Innosuisse has launched a second call for ideas from small and medium sized enterprises and startups that have already entered the market.

The Swiss Accelerator will fund up to 70% of successful projects, with up to CHF 2.5 million (€2.6 million) per bid. Applications close on 9 October. 

The scheme is part of the country's transitional measures designed to compensate for the country's exclusion from the EU's research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe. 

The European Commission is looking to hire a policy officer based in Kyiv who will report to the EU delegation to Ukraine and to the Commission’s directorate for research and innovation, DG RTD.

Successful candidates are expected to work together with RTD on the implementation of Ukraine’s association to Horizon Europe and Euratom, as well as help set up the newly established Horizon Europe office in Ukraine.

The Commission warns applicants the working schedule may be “atypical” due to the ongoing war and related security concerns.

The deadline for applications is 15 September. More details here.

The government has announced plans for yet another funding scheme aimed at researchers and innovators who are now working abroad but would want to return and work in their home country.

The new funding competition would focus on consolidating centres of excellence and establishing interdisciplinary partnerships. Research minister Bogdan Ivan vows the programme will allocate “millions of euros” to the best researchers in the country and abroad. “It’s a huge step for innovation in Romania, in fields such as digitalisation, climate, environment, health and culture,” said Ivan.

It’s not the first time Romania is trying to attract scientists living abroad, with previous attempts delivering mixed results. Other countries in the region, such as Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary and Poland have come up with similar schemes aimed at regaining some of the bright minds they have lost to the west since 1990.

The UK is set to host the first global summit on artificial intelligence safety this November, a victory for the country’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who hopes to position the UK as a leader on AI. 

The two-day event will take place on 1 and 2 November at Bletchley Park, the site where the world’s first programmable digital electronic computer was created to help crack secret communications of the Axis Powers during the Second World War. 

“The UK has long been home to the transformative technologies of the future, so there is no better place to host the first ever global AI safety summit than at Bletchley Park this November,” Sunak said.

There is one day left to apply for NATO’s three Pilot Challenge calls for proposals focusing on energy resilience, secure information sharing and sensing and surveillance. 

The calls are part of NATO’s €1 billion defence innovation accelerator called DIANA. 

Around 30 proposals will ultimately be selected for funding, receiving initial grants of €100,000. After a six-month period, a smaller number of start-ups will proceed to phase 2 and receive an additional €300,000. 

DIANA was officially launched last year and aims to develop dual-use technologies such as artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, advanced manufacturing, biotechnologies and quantum technologies.

Scientists in Israel and Switzerland will now have to submit only one grant application for joint projects after the two countries’ research agencies simplified the procedure.  

The two funders – the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) – will take it in turns to review the projects on a yearly basis. This year, researchers can submit their applications to the SNSF by 2 October.  

Switzerland has similar agreements with Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Brazil’s State of Sao Paulo, Slovenia, South Africa, Italy’s Province of South Tyrol, Sweden and the USA. 

The head of the German Research Foundation (DFG), Katja Becker, is on a multi-day trip to North America with the aim of strengthening cooperation with strategic partners in the US and Canada. 

The trip will include the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the DFG and the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, intended to boost Germany and Canada’s cooperation on humanities and social sciences. 

In the US Becker will hold talks with representatives of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, while DFG vice president Britta Siegmund will meet with representatives of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

Read more about the DFG trip here (in German).