HORIZON BLOG: European R&D policy newsbytes

The European Research Council (ERC) is drafting a report on the impact of the research projects it funded under the EU’s 7th Framework Programme from 2007 to 2013. 

According to an ERC preview of the report, 58% of the funded projects contributed to significant advances, and another 20% achieved crucial scientific breakthroughs. 

“As we examine the findings of these ex-post evaluations, we gain invaluable insights not only into the impact of the ERC’s pioneering years but also into the trajectory of future frontier research,” said Jesper Svejstrup, vice president of the ERC Scientific Council.

Read the preview report here and the full announcement here.

The 2023 EIC Fund investments in deep tech enterprises - totalling around €1.2 billion - are leveraging over €3.5 from the private sector for each euro invested, says the Impact Report 2023 released by the European Innovation Council (EIC) today.

“The European Innovation Council (EIC) has emerged as a game-changer in supporting deep tech innovation in Europe. This Impact Report shows how the EIC supports the growth of high potential startups while at the same time building a European community of deep tech investors. This is crucial to ensuring the future of our companies and strengthening EU leadership in critical technologies,” said Iliana Ivanova, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth.

Read the full announcement here.

European leaders have offered Cairo talks on associating to Horizon Europe, as part of a €7.4 billion investment deal seen as a way of inducing Egypt to stem the flow of migrants to the EU.  

According to a statement by Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and several EU leaders on 17 March, “Egypt can now negotiate its accession to other EU programmes such as Creative Europe and Horizon Europe”.  

In 2022, Tunisia associated to Horizon Europe, despite human rights concerns from some MEPs following an effective coup by the country’s president.  

The European Research Council has confirmed that researchers based in Switzerland can now apply to calls as if the country were associated to Horizon Europe, meaning they can take up grants without having to leave Switzerland. 

Bern’s long-running exclusion from Horizon Europe has meant ERC grantees cannot be based in Switzerland – Swiss winners have had to decamp to an EU or associated country. 

But now that wider political talks between Switzerland and the EU have made progress, transition measures mean that Swiss researchers can apply to the ERC as normal.  

An association agreement is still yet to be agreed, and will be necessary before Swiss researchers can actually receive ERC grants. 

EU-LIFE, an alliance of 15 European life sciences research institutes, has set out its vision for the European Innovation Council (EIC) in the next EU R&I framework programme, FP10, after undertaking a similar exercise for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.

It calls for strengthening the role of the EIC and for rebalancing funding, so that public funds focus on higher-risk low technology readiness levels (TRLs), while promoting private investments at higher TRLs. It argues the Pathfinder and Transition instruments should solely be supported by public funding with the Accelerator relying on private investment.

It goes on to state that “overly complex parts of Horizon Europe such as Pillar 2, and programmes with questionable impact such as the EIT should be restructured and/or deprioritized to provide more funds to the EIC.”

Read the full statement here.

German Federal Minister of Education and Science Bettina Stark-Watzinger presented the new funding programme for fusion energy, aka "Fusion 2040 - Research on the way to the fusion power plant." The investment is intended to boost the technologies, components, and materials needed for a fusion power plant in the country by the early 2030s.

"The energy crisis has made us realise how important a clean, reliable and affordable energy supply is. And fusion is a huge opportunity to solve all our energy problems,” said the Minister. "I want us in Germany to be among the first to build a fusion power plant."

Read the full announcement here (in German).

It is vital to teach children of primary and post-primary school level about the nature of science and research ethics, says the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA). 

The group argues that with advanced technology becoming increasingly ingrained in our everyday lives, it is essential for children to learn about concepts such as the tentative and empirical nature of scientific knowledge, the role of evidence and experimentation, the difference between theories and hypotheses, and so on. 

In a statement titled ‘Early Learning Opportunities for Shaping a Scientifically Literate Society’, ALLEA sets out recommendations for making European children more scientifically literate and conscious of research ethics. 

You can read the full statement here.

The French Ministry of the Armed Forces will launch a Ministerial Agency for Defence AI (AMIAD), minister Sébastien Lecornu announced as he presented the new strategy on artificial intelligence.

The agency is set to recruit 300 people, including numerous researchers, split between its research site at the École Polytechnique engineering school in Palaiseau outside of Paris, and a production site in Bruz, near Rennes.

“Its mission will be to provide France with sovereign control over these technologies to avoid depending on other powers,” Lecornu said. “The technological leap that artificial intelligence represents is without doubt what will revolutionise the way wars are fought. Or even, more importantly, avoided, like the atom before it.”

The ministry wants to introduce AI into administrative tasks as well as operational missions. It also wants to acquire its own supercomputer by 2025, which will be based in Suresnes, a western suburb of Paris, and will be used to treat classified data. Defence companies will also have access to the supercomputer to hone their technologies.

EuroTech Universities published a prospectus for FP10 stressing the pivotal role of science and technology universities in Horizon Europe’s enhancement and refinement. 

The Alliance calls for budget transparency, increased support for collaborative basic and applied research, and strengthening partnerships with countries outside the EU. Joining other research organisations, EuroTech wants to see a doubling of the Horizon Europe budget to €200 billion to FP10, too. 

Read the position paper here. 

Bettina Stark-Watzinger, Federal Minister of Education and Science of Germany, and Michelle Donelan, UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, signed a joint statement on future bilateral research cooperation between the two countries yesterday in London. 

The partnership will focus on key technologies such as artificial intelligence, battery research, quantum and fusion research, and research security. 

“Germany is the UK’s second-largest trading partner, as well as a critical science and research partner through the likes of Horizon Europe and CERN. To capitalise on this, bringing our shared strengths in science and technology together will be essential,” said Donelan. 

Read the full announcement here (in English) and here (in German).