HORIZON BLOG: European R&D policy newsbytes (Archived_03)

The EU Council of member states today officially signed off the agreement allowing the UK to participate in Horizon Europe and Copernicus programmes. 

The EU and UK reached a deal in September after seven years of political disputes and negotiations. Here’s how it happened. 

With the member states approval, the EU-UK Specialised Committee on Participation in Union programmes can now formalise the agreement by the end of the year. It will kick into effect on 1 January 2024, allowing UK researchers and organisations to take part in Horizon Europe on an equal footing with EU counterparts. 

Over €290 million is available in Horizon Europe’s latest set of calls for digital, industry and space projects.  

Of this, €85 million will be awarded to projects catalysing innovation in artificial intelligence, including large-scale pilot projects to support industrial Internet of Things platforms and the next generation edge computing technologies. 

Another €206 million will be dedicated to Europe’s competitiveness and green ambitions. This includes €60 million for AI and data projects in support of the European Green Deal, €76 million for AI, data, and robotics, and €70 million for projects on cloud and edge computing architecture, the integration of 2D materials om semi-conductor technologies and quantum sensing, among others. 

Germany’s University Rectors' Conference (HRK) called for action against antisemitism and abuse of power in universities at its latest general meeting in Berlin.

The rectors agreed to consult and develop further measures to address the abuse of power in universities, building on existing recommendations from 2012 and 2018. The decision comes after several new cases of abuse emerged in German universities.  

The rectors also responded to anti-Israel and antisemitic incidents in several universities following the Hamas' attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip. They called on all university members to take decisive action against antisemitism in any form. 

The German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) have agreed to intensify their collaboration through the joint funding of German-Israeli research projects.

This will also form the basis for the development of a bilateral review process, the partners announced following the signing of a memorandum of understanding.

“Israeli and German researchers already work closely together. For the first time, this agreement now gives us the opportunity to actually fund research projects jointly in future,” said DFG president Katja Becker.

She added that the agreement was drawn up before the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October. “In view of the current situation in Israel and the region, the deepening of research ties now takes on an added significance, also as a sign of solidarity,” she said.

DFG is also offering support to researchers working on funding projects in the region or whose work depends on cooperation with partners in the region. They can submit supplemental proposals for additional funding.

Applications for European Research Council Starting Grants, which help researchers at the beginning of their careers to launch their own projects, rose by 29% this year, the ERC announced after the 2024 call for applications closed.

The basic research funding body received 3,474 applications, of which 42% were in the domain of physical sciences and engineering, 30% were in social science and humanities, and 28% were in life sciences. Women submitted nearly 40% of proposals, same as in the previous call.

The ERC Scientific Council has earmarked €601 million for an estimated 387 Starting Grants in 2024. The ERC will announce the successful projects in summer 2024.

MEPs and the EU Council have reached an agreement on the Critical Raw Materials Act, which aims to secure Europe’s supply of materials such as lithium and cobalt, key to its strategic autonomy, and to reduce its dependence on third countries such as China.

The policy was announced by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her 2022 State of the Union speech. It aims to cut red tape, promote innovation along the entire value chain, and boost research into alternative materials.

Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton welcomed the deal. “The speed of negotiations and level of ambition demonstrate that raw materials have become essential for Europe’s economic security and resilience,” he said.

The informal agreement now needs to be approved by both Parliament and Council. It will be put to a vote in the Industry, Research and Energy committee on 7 December.

Ireland is set to apply to join the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) as an associate member, after Simon Harris TD, the country’s minister for higher education, research, innovation and science, secured government approval for the application.

Membership would allow Ireland’s researchers to participate in CERN’s scientific programmes, and Irish citizens would be eligible for staff positions and fellowships at the research centre.

“This is a development that has been, for decades, eagerly awaited by our academic community,” Harris said.

CERN will consider the application in mid-December, and the aim is for membership to begin in late 2024, he added.

The EU Council has approved the proposal for a Space Strategy for Security and Defence, which seeks to make space systems and services more resilient, and strengthen the EU’s ability to respond to attacks.

The text reaffirms the importance of space as a strategic domain, with numerous areas reliant on space data and services. It also proposes to maximise the use of space for security and defence purposes.

The Council welcomed the strategy, and proposed a number of actions, including the strengthening of military and civilian intelligence services on space security.

A tool that collects and translates articles about Chinese science and technology has been created by a US research centre to shed more light on the country’s development.

Scout, created by the Emerging Technology Observatory, a centre based at Georgetown University, allows users to filter articles by technology, applications and themes. It provides a translated summary of the article, and editor picks for particularly interesting reads.

“China's science and technology ecosystem produces lots of information […] in outlets from official media, policy documents, and academic journals to ‘netizen’ commentaries and a wide range of private and semi-private news websites,” the observatory said when it announced the new tool. “But unfortunately, this information is often missing from discussions abroad.”

Japan’s basic research institute RIKEN has signed a memorandum of cooperation with Belgium-based nanoelectronics R&D hub Imec in a pledge to explore new R&D opportunities together. 

The two organisations will also look to further knowledge exchange through joint lectures, seminars and symposia. 

“By promoting collaborative research that leverages the strengths of both organisations, the two parties hope to contribute to the advancement of science and technology in their respective countries and benefit the global community,” RIKEN stated.