Horizon Europe is well underway, but the world of European R&D policy goes well beyond the confines of the €95.5 billion R&D programme. EU climate, digital, agriculture and regional policies all have significant research and innovation components. National governments often come up with new R&D policies, decide to fund new research avenues, and set up international cooperation deals. This blog aims to keep you informed on all of that and more.
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You can read the full archive of this blog here.
On Tuesday, the European Union and the India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) announced the launching of a new co-funding initiative for the Horizon Europe’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Staff Exchanges.
The partnership aims to strengthen research and innovation ties between the EU and India and will run from 2025 to 2027. The upcoming MSCA Staff Exchanges calls will open on 19 September 2024, with a deadline of 5 February 2025, and on 27 March 2025, with deadline 8 October 2025.
Read the full announcement here.
The European Research Council (ERC) president, Maria Leptin, will attend a panel discussion in Warsaw on September 23 at the Institute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering.
The event, titled "Focus on Frontier Research with the ERC" and organized by the Polish Academy of Sciences and the ERC, will focus on the role of pioneering research in addressing global challenges and encourage participation in ERC grant competitions.
Key speakers include Polish Minister of Science Dariusz Wieczorek and ERC grant laureates, with discussions and workshops aimed at researchers and administrative staff.
Register here to attend the event.
More details here.
As Horizon Europe's European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) prepares to launch a new Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) focused on water, marine, and maritime sectors, a new networking platform has been introduced for interested organisations.
Launched in mid-August, this platform enables interested applicants to the new KIC to connect with potential partners and arrange meetings. The registration is open until June 30, 2025.
The Call for Proposals for the KIC Water will be released in 2025, with the initiative officially starting in 2026.
More info here.
Last week, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) announced it will launch a new call for proposals for its Higher Education Institutions (HEI) Initiative in autumn 2024.
This Horizon Europe programme aims to transform higher education institutions into hubs of innovation and entrepreneurship while enhancing their integration into broader innovation networks.
The upcoming call will focus on improving the quality and competitiveness of European higher education, advancing research and technology transfer, and fostering stronger collaborations between higher education institutionsand businesses across Europe.
Read the announcement here.
The Western Balkans Fund, headquartered in Albania, and the International Visegrad Fund have announced the first 41 recipients of their joint R&D cooperation scheme: the Western Balkans-Visegrad Fellowship.
Selected from 154 applicants, the winning researchers, lecturers, and scholars from the Western Balkans will receive fully funded fellowships lasting 2-10 weeks at universities in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia.
Likewise, winners form the Visegrad Group (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia) will receive the same fellowships at universities in the Western Balkans.
Read the full announcement here.
The Polish Contact Agency (PolSCA), dedicated to promoting and supporting the involvement of Poland’s R&D community in European projects, is hosting a webinar focused on the role of application evaluators within the Horizon Europe programme.
The meeting’s aim is to help participants in navigating through the application process to become an evaluator of Horizon Europe projects.
The event is scheduled to take place on September 19 via Webex.
Register here.
Universities of Cambridge and Loughborough launched a research collaboration to develop ultra-lightweight solar cells for space applications.
The project, funded with £484,000 from the UK Space Agency, aims to reduce the weight of solar cells and significantly lower payload costs for space missions.
“The technology we are developing enables mission profiles with higher power payloads. Power is a universal requirement for all existing space applications including satellite communications networks, imaging, sensing, position, and navigation,” said Louise Hirst, professor at Cambridge University. “It may also enable future space based solar power in which on-orbit solar farms beam power to terrestrial locations.”
More here.
In 2023 EU governments spent a total of at €123,684 million on R&D, a 5.3% increase compared with 2022 (€117 424 million), and a 54.8% increase since 2013 (€79 886 million), according to data published by Eurostat this month.
However, the total public R&D expenditure in 2023 is equivalent to only 0.73% of the EU’s GDP, as Brussels continues to pressure member states to raise public and private investments in research and development up to 3% of GDP.
In 2023, government budget allocations for R&D at the EU level stood at €275.6 per person, a 53.3% increase since 2013 (€181.0 per person).
The highest allocations were recorded in Luxembourg (€646.6 per person), followed at a distance by Denmark (€552.4) and Germany (€529.3).
EU countries with the lowest R&D budget allocations per person were Romania (€21.2 per person), Bulgaria (€33.1) and Hungary (€48.1).
More info is available here.
The European Commission approved €5 billion worth of state aid by the German federal government aimed at setting up a new semiconductor manufacturing facility.
The initiative involves building a microchip manufacturing plant in Dresden, which should help Europe secure its supply of semiconductors.
The project will be put forward by European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (‘ESMC'), a joint venture between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (‘TSMC'), Bosch, Infineon, and NXP.
“This €5 billion German measure will strengthen semiconductor production capacity in Europe, helping us deliver our green and digital transition and creating opportunities for high-skilled employment,” said Margrethe Vestager, executive vice-president in charge of competition policy.
“The measure’s open foundry model will ensure widespread access to power efficient chips, including by smaller companies and start-ups, while limiting any potential distortion of competition,” Vestager said.
Read the full announcement here.
The European Commission is looking for scientists to join the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors (GCSA), a seven-member group aimed at providing scientific advice to EU commissioners.
Scientific and research organisations across Europe are encouraged to nominate candidates for future members of the GCSA. The deadline for submitting nominations is September 30.
“High-quality scientific advice, provided at the right time, is crucial for enhancing the effectiveness of EU policy making and legislation,” said EU research commissioner Iliana Ivanova.
“The Group of Chief Scientific Advisors ensures that the European Commission decisions are informed by the latest scientific insights and that the EU remain responsive to emerging challenges and opportunities in an increasingly complex world,” Ivanova said.
More details here.
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