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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The alliance of independent European research institutes in the life sciences EU-LIFE has put forward a list of five “key actions for a competitive Europe.”
As former Italian prime ministers Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta and former Portuguese research minister Manuel Heitor released their reports which put R&I at the core of EU competitiveness, the research lobby group provided its reaction pointing five key actions for a competitive Europe.
1. Be ambitious, yet realistic: Aim for longer-term, more impactful outcomes, but this is only realistic by doubling and ring-fencing the investment on R&I.
2. Empower the ecosystem: Invest in rewarding research careers, effective knowledge transfer and cutting-edge research infrastructure. Improve excellence of research institutions in a quality-based, open, equitable, fair and diverse way.
3. Ensure coherence: Give the ERC, EIC and MSCA priority in the upcoming financial cycle and coherently group them in a R&I single umbrella with excellent research infrastructure and clear investment in discovery-driven and collaborative research.
4. Strike the right balance: Balance public and private investments wisely: industrial strategies should not overshadow the critical need to invest public funding in fundamental research. Strong, resilient and impactful excellent research requires a clear bottom-up approach with researchers and innovators in the driving seat.
5. Keep it simple: Plan for an evolution of Horizon Europe that breaks siloes and contributes further to the common effort of making a healthy and prosperous Europe.
“An upgrade of Europe’s competitiveness and Research & Innovation strategy is overdue and of great importance. EU-LIFE offers the expertise of its community and leadership to accompany the reform process,” said Giulio Superti-Furga, Chair of EU-LIFE.
Read more details here.
Slovenia’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Innovation has released its position on the upcoming EU research framework programme, FP10, set to launch in 2028, outlining seven key recommendations, including “a comprehensive overhaul of the cooperation between the European Commission and member states and associated countries.
The paper says the Commission and member states should identify together common priorities and jointly agree on a governance under FP10.
“Priority-setting procedures need to be renewed in a way that will allow for a genuine partnershi between the [Commission] and [member states and associated countries] in the further development of the current R&I system,” the paper says.
Slovenia also advocates for more balanced funding, increased investment in partnerships, and a stronger role for social sciences and humanities (SSH) in FP10.
Read Slovenia’s position on FP10 here.
The ERC Scientific Council is currently convening in Berlin, for its first plenary meeting in the German capital since the launch of the ERC in February 2007.
Prior to the plenary, members of the Scientific Council will engage in a high-level event on research excellence, with research German Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger and ERC President Maria Leptin, followed by a press briefing and a gathering with ERC grantees.
More details here.
The Max Planck Society (MPG) for the Advancement of Science, a non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes, is urging the EU to prioritise scientific excellence in FP10 .
According to Max Planck’s position paper on the next framework prorgramme for research and innovation, the EU should agree on doubling the budget of the ERC.
The paper also calls for a “European Science Deal”, as well as stronger support for postdoctoral talent and for boosting excellence across all member states.
"An FP10 grounded in European values and scientific excellence will have a major impact on global scientific leadership. Science, and science in service to the economy, should be seen as distinct goals," the paper says.
Read the full position paper here.
The EU should increase the effectiveness of its funding and support for Western Balkans in education, research and innovation, according to a statement issued last week by the joint science conference of the Berlin Process.
The Berlin Process was set up in 2014 as a platform to increase cooperation between the six Western Balkans countries, the host countries of the Berlin Process, and the EU.
According to a joint statement released lasty week after the 8th annual conference on the science, education, research and innovation pillar of the Berlin Process, the EU should launch a dedicated Western Balkans facility for skills, research and innovation. “This facility would pool funding and instruments from various EU programmes, such as the Framework Programme and theInstrument for Pre-accession Assistance.”
The joint statement also calls for a dedicated research fund that would foster research excellence and mitigate brain drain in the Western Balkans. “The establishment of this fund would be transformative for the Western Balkans, comparable to the impact of the European Research Council on European science,” the statement says.
The full statement is available here.
The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has announced a new platform where researchers, innovators and companies can submit and consult data and information on innovative clean, zero-carbon and circular technologies.
The platform is meant to be a single and transparent information point that allows industry, technology providers, research and technology organisations, national authorities policymakers, and financial actors to both share and access valuable data and information on ongoing or planned innovative processes and technologies, the JRC said.
Read more about the platform here.
Formal negotiations between the EU and Egypt on association to Horizon Europe have started, the European Commission has announced.
The negotiations will continue in the "coming weeks and months" and "may lead" to Egypt's association in the EU research and innovation programme, the Commission said.
The announcement comes more than six months after Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Cairo and signed a joint declaration on "a strategic and comprehensive partnership" between the EU and Egypt.
If successful, association to Horizon Europe would place Egyptian entities on par with those of EU Member States, allowing them to directly access funding and coordinate projects.
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is pushing for a more ambitious budget for the EU's upcoming research framework programme, FP10, due to start in 2028.
Regional and local leaders stress the need for FP10 to prioritise local innovation ecosystems and enhance collaboration with cohesion funds for equitable investment distribution across European regions.
The CoR, the first EU body to adopt a position on FP10, called for a significant budget increase, arguing that the current funding model requires an additional €25 billion annually to support all eligible projects effectively.
They also stressed the importance of a place-based approach and stronger citizen engagement in implementing FP10, suggesting that municipalities and regions should act as strategic partners to maximize the programme’s impact.
"Widening participation in the next Framework Programme for research and innovation by prioritising a place-based approach that allows regions less advanced in R&I to get onboard ultimately strengthens the European Research Area overall and the EU's global competitiveness. Regions and cities are key enablers in this regard," said rapporteur Anne Besnie.
More details here.
Regional and local leaders are advocating for the EU's Artificial Intelligence Act to enhance start-ups' and SMEs' access to supercomputing resources and flexible funding for ethical AI development.
The group says the EU needs to bring down bureaucracy and foster innovation through increased transparency and agile financing during the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) plenary session on Wednesday. They also highlighted the importance of local authorities in building trustworthy AI ecosystems and proposed including local representatives in the EU's AI decision-making bodies.
“We need to shift our policy-making focus from attempting to restrict it (AI) to learn how to benefit from it,” said rapporteur Emil Boc.
More here.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) researcher David Baker has won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, marking the 19th time an MSCA grantee has received the award since 2010.
Baker was recognised by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for his work in computational protein design.
“The EU is happy to have funded his work and allowed excellent researchers to develop their skills and career under his guidance through Horizon Europe’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions,” said research commissioner Iliana Ivanova. “We are committed to fostering cutting-edge research that benefits both Europe and the global community.”
More details here.
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