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

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has ranked over 100 innovations for their potential to improve global public health, and concluded that genomic diagnostics shows the most promise. 

After convening a panel of experts, the WHO also judged that better vaccine production and distribution systems are also critically important. 

Low-cost viral diagnostics, new antimicrobial drugs and remote diagnostics - through smartphones or watches, for example - were also some of the top-ranked innovations touted by the WHO in its horizon-scanning report. 

The region of South Moravia and its city Brno have become the first in Czechia to win the  European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) award for 2024.

The EER was set up in 2010 in partnership with the European Commission to reward regions and cities that demonstrate outstanding support for innovation and entrepreneurship. 

Each year, three places are chosen as winners. Alongside South Moravia, the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Italy and the Vila Nova de Famalicão municipality in Portugal were also recognised. A special mention was also given to Polish region Małopolska, also known as Lesser Poland. 

Anna Putnova, Brno’s city councillor for innovation and cooperation with research organisations, said the reward is recognition of 20 years of hard work.

“Thanks to this, our region can now rank among one of the fastest growing innovation ecosystems in Europe in terms of growth of investment in technology companies," she said.

Support for Ukrainian universities needs to switch from a short-term, emergency basis to a long-term model, the European University Association (EUA) has stated. 

To help drive this, the EUA has today published a series of recommendations on how best to support higher education in Ukraine going forwards. 

This includes support for Ukrainian universities through inter-institutional partnerships and increasing information sharing and cooperation among major stakeholders. 

See the full set of recommendations here.

Spain and Switzerland have today signed a joint declaration agreeing to boost their cooperation in research and innovation. 

The agreement has a duration of five years and has broad scope to strengthen partnerships in all areas of R&I, with a particular focus on the topics of climate and sustainability, digital transformation, energy, equality and diversity, humanities and social sciences, life sciences and health, quantum sciences and technologies, and space.

The Galway Statement for Atlantic Ocean research cooperation today marks its tenth anniversary with a series of events in Dublin and Galway.  

The initiative has spearheaded research boosting the restoration of marine ecosystems and protecting coastal communities from the sea level rise while advancing ocean science, research and observation systems and aligning national research programmes.  

Progress to advance the European Research Area (ERA) is going well, according to Cesaer, an alliance of 58 European science and tech universities. 

In a new position paper published today, the group described the ERA as a “trailblazer” and said that progress has been made on nearly all 20 actions set out in the ERA Policy Agenda. 

“Some ERA actions suffered from start-up difficulties and some are progressing more quickly than others, but overall, it is welcomed that implementation is progressing,” Cesaer wrote in its paper. 

Cesaer also highlighted the work of the ERA Forum, an expert group of the European Commission set up to advance work on the ERA policy agenda.

The latest call for the European Universities initiative under the Erasmus+ scheme has led to the creation of seven new European Universities, bringing the total to 50. 

A ‘European University’ is a network of several higher education institutions offering students the chance to pursue transnational degrees. 

The 50 alliances now involve over 430 universities in 35 countries, including all of the EU countries, as well as close neighbours such as Iceland, Norway, and Turkey. 

This latest call had a budget of €402.2 million, the highest ever. 

The European Commission is aiming to reach 60 European Universities by mid-2024.

Thierry Breton, EU commissioner for internal market, is in Tokyo this week for a series of meetings aimed at advancing digital policy cooperation with Japan. 

The meetings on Breton’s agenda include the first EU-Japan Digital Partnership Council meeting, the signing of memoranda of understanding on semiconductors and Arctic Connectivity, and meetings with CEOs and government officials to discuss the EU’s Chips Act, undersea cables and secure mobile networks, among other topics. 

The European Association of Innovation Consultants (EAIC) has elected its new executive board, including new President Luc Ragon, who is the CEO of French innovation consultancy Benkei. 

The new board thanked outgoing president Pekka Koponen of Spinverse and the other former members for their “significant contributions and tireless efforts in advancing the goals of the EAIC”. 

You can see a full list of the newly elected board members here.

Europe’s first battery material production facility for cathode active materials – the basic material for batteries – has officially opened its doors today in Schwarzheide, Germany. 

The facility was financed under an Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) project and is being run by Chemical group BASF. 

European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič, who coordinates the Commission’s work on the European Battery Alliance, participated in the inauguration ceremony at the facility today. 

The new plant covers the full life cycle of batteries, from the extraction of raw materials, through the production of batteries and their recycling and re-use. 

It is expected that it will contribute to European competitiveness in the field, reduce its overseas dependencies and help towards the EU’s green transition.