HORIZON BLOG: European R&D policy newsbytes

Solar radiation modification technologies, which consist in reflecting sunlight away from the Earth to reduce its warming, are not ready to be deployed and cannot substitute emissions cuts, advisers told the European Commission. 

According to a study led Chief Scientific Advisors (GCSA) and the European Group on Ethics (EGE), these technologies could “have negative impacts on ecosystems, change rainfall patterns, and hamper food production.” But that’s not all. 

“Presenting these technologies as available solutions could damage efforts that are already underway to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change,” they said, calling on the EU to refuse to deploy them during global negotiations.  

EU’s new research commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva agreed. “These technologies do show some promise, but they are far from mature,” she stated. “Research must continue, but the opinion of the European Group on Ethics shows research must be rigourous and ethical, and it must take full account of the possible range of direct and indirect effects,” she said.  

Read the press release here. 

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is launching its new European Raw Materials Academy to plug the skills gap on the raw materials value chain within EU member states. 

“Critical raw materials are one of the foundations of our renewed industrial policy,” Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy Stéphane Séjourné said in a statement.  

“We need to reduce our dependencies with our domestic production meeting high quality standards and at the same time secure substantial contracts with like-minded partners all over the globe,” he added. 

The initiative, which is the second EU Academy to be set up under the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) and implemented by the EIT, is supported with €10 million from the Single Market Programme and Horizon Europe. It is expecting 1,200 participants. 

Read the press release here.

The European Commission has awarded the first 130 projects a Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) Seal in a bid to boost the development of clean and deep and digital tech. 

The chosen projects, which in definition bring “an innovative, emerging and cutting-edge element or contributing to reducing or preventing strategic dependencies of the Union,” are expected to gain visibility and unlock additional EU funding. 

“As a badge of distinction, the STEP Seal should help projects to attract private finance, particularly from investors seeking derisked projects with a strong Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) profile,” the Commission wrote in a statement. 

Read the press release here. 

The European Union and the Gates Foundation will co-host the Gavi 6.0 pledging summit in the first quarter of next year in Brussels.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, has transformed global immunisation efforts by vaccinating over 1.1 billion children, saving more than 18.8 million lives from preventable diseases since 2000. Gavi efforts have generated over $250 billion in economic benefits and anticipated more than 100 outbreaks

The 2025 Gavi summit will bring together global leaders from government, partner organisations, vaccine manufacturers, civil society and the private sector, to secure crucial investments in vaccination programmes.

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen the main goal for Gavi is to vaccinate 500 million children by 2030. "Gavi’s role is key for making equitable vaccine access a reality, and for empowering our partners to achieve health sovereignty,” she said.

More details here.

French universities have warned they will have to reduce student admissions, stop offering courses, and close campuses, under current government plans for the 2025 budget. 

Rectors from almost 120 higher education institutions represented by France Universités declared 3 December a day of mobilisation for “universities in danger”. 

“60% of them foresee that the new governmental measures might not only lead them to postpone investment and hiring of staff, but would also compel them to close down outlying campuses thanks to which students, some of them coming from deprived rural areas, are given access to the higher education system,” the association said in a statement. 

The rectors say their budgets are insufficient to cover rising salary, pension and energy costs. 

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded €678 million in grants to 328 researchers across all scientific disciplines. 

The laureates, in majority German, will carry out projects ranging from engineering to humanities to life sciences at universities and research centres of 25 member states and other countries associated with the Horizon Europe programme.  

"Congratulations to all the researchers who have won ERC Consolidator Grants, in this latest round for the mid-career stage,” ERC head Maria Leptin said in a statement. “Whilst we had the funds available to back more applicants this year than in 2023, the fact remains that many applicants who were rated as excellent in this competition will still not be funded due to lack of budget."

The new European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, Ekaterina Zaharieva, pointed out that she would make her mission to expand the ERC to "help strengthen Europe’s competitiveness and fostering ground-breaking discoveries."

The ERC expects these grants to create some 2,750 jobs for postdoctoral fellows, PhD students, and other staff. 

Read the press release here. 

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has inaugurated 16 EIT Community Hubs across Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe to address the continent’s regional innovation gap.

These new hubs aim at fostering collaboration among local entrepreneurs, researchers, and educators to drive economic growth and bolster regional competitiveness.

The EIT Community Hubs are part of the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme, a specialised programme launched ten years ago designed to provide tailored support and expand outreach in "moderate" and "emerging" innovator countries. 

More on the new 16 EIT Community Hubs here.

Earlier this week, the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research, and Energy (ITRE) released a draft report, outlining the assessment of the implementation of Horizon Europe and recommendations for the next research and innovation framework programme, FP10, set to begin in 2028.

While EARTO, an association of Europe's leading research and technology organisations, welcomed most of the report's recommendations, it urged careful consideration of the proposal to allocate half of FP10 budget to the European Research Council (ERC) and the European Innovation Council (EIC). 

The group emphasised that although higher investments are needed, allocating half of the Framework Programme budget to the ERC and EIC would dramatically decrease investment for Pillar II, which funds pre-competitive research and innovation projects.

“The recommendation to allocate 50% of the FP10 budget to the ERC and the EIC seems arbitrary and overlooks the crucial role of pre-competitive collaborative and applied research as well as of public-private partnerships under Horizon Europe,” EARTO warns.

Read the EARTO reaction to the report here.

The European Parliament has adopted the 2025 budget proposed by the budget committee with 418 votes to 185 and 67 abstentions.  

Parliament president, Roberta Metsola, signed next year’s EU budget into law, for which EU lawmakers successfully negotiated an additional €230.7 million beyond the initial Commission’s draft proposal.

Other than restoring Council’s cuts, MEPs secured investment increases including €422 million for Erasmus+ and €20 million for the EU research framework programme Horizon Europe, ensuring support for innovation and youth initiatives.

The Council of the EU already approved the joint text with the Parliament on the EU’s general budget for 2025 on Monday. 

Read the press release here.

The newly launched European Research Alliance for Sustainable Development (ERASuD), comprising 12 leading European research organisations, is urging the EU to prioritise equitable research collaboration with low- and middle-income countries. 

Unveiled on Friday, the Alliance emphasises that EU research should focus more on areas such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and economic inequality because of their effects on policymaking.

“Collaborative research on global challenges is essential to shape a more sustainable future—both for Europe and for low-and middle-income countries,” said Eloísa del Pino Matute, President of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). 

More on the Alliance here.