HORIZON BLOG: European R&D policy newsbytes

The European Commission has signed today an agreement worth €20 million with the French biopharmaceutical company Fabentech.  

The investment will be routed through the EU's Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) and the European Investment Bank, and will help Fabentech develop and deploy its broad-spectrum therapeutics to combat biological threats to public health.

The agreement is the first in its kind under HERA Invest. More investments are in the pipeline with other European companies, with the goal to stimulate innovation to respond to priority health threats, such as pathogens with high pandemic potential, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats, and resistance to antibiotics.

More details here. 

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved funding for seven new research units and one new centre for advanced studies, focusing on topics ranging from road vehicle automation to transformations in the labour market.  

These projects will receive a total investment worth €39 million for their first funding period, which will last up to eight years.  

More here. 

Switzerland and Spain held their first joint meeting on science and innovation in Bern last week, aiming to strengthen collaboration in research and innovation.  

Both countries reaffirmed their commitment to continue working closely, with the Swiss National Science Foundation and Spain's Agencia Estatal de Investigación launching a new “lead agency” agreement.  

The meeting builds on a memorandum of understanding signed in 2023. 

Led by Swiss state secretary for education, research and innovation Martina Hirayama and Spanish secretary general for research Eva Ortega-Paíno, this year’s meeting highlighted successful joint efforts, with the two countries working together in over 670 collaborative projects under Horizon Europe. 

More details here. 

A US-led effort to boost international science collaboration awarded $82 million to set up six new research consortia on bioeconomy.

The programme, called Global Centers, coordinates funding from multiple agencies to make it easier for scientists to work across borders on global challenge research. 

The programme was begun last year by the US National Science Foundation, with an initial round of $76.4 million of grants on clean energy and climate change involving partners in Australia, Canada and the UK. This year’s round, on bioeconomy, expands the partnerships to include funders from Finland, Japan and Korea – but without Australia.

The new consortia include a group led by the University of California-Berkeley studying new food or fuel uses for seaweed, and involving partners in Canada, Korea and the UK. Another group, led by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, includes Finnish, British and Japanese partners to engineer new crop varieties for feeding animals. Other topics include biofoundries, bioplastics, recycling and developing plants more resilient to climate change.

More information here.

Today, the European Commission unveiled the interim evaluation of InvestEU, a programme aimed at giving an additional boost to sustainable investment, innovation, social inclusion and job creation in Europe.

The analysis found that halfway through its lifespan, InvestEU has unlocked €218 billion in additional investments. However, the report also warns that the programme’s budget is falling short of the high market demand and needs more financial resources. By 2028, InvestEU aims to roll out over €372 billion in investment, pushing forward the EU's green and digital transitions.

The programme has already allocated 90% of its EU budget guarantee.

“The mid-term evaluation shows that InvestEU has been driving investment, innovation, and job creation across Europe, particularly in the green and digital transition,” said economy commissioner Paolo Gentiloni.

More here.

On Wednesday, the European Commission announced over a hundred companies as the first signatories of the EU AI Pact, including multinational corporations and SMEs from various sectors.

The companies voluntarily committed to actions such as developing AI governance strategies, mapping high-risk AI systems, and promoting AI literacy ahead of the AI Act’s enforcement.

More than half of the signatories have also pledged to ensure human oversight, mitigate AI risks, and label AI-generated content.

The AI Act entered into force in August and it will be fully applicable in 2 years.

More here.

In collaboration with the Marie Curie Alumni Association, the alliance of independent European research institutes in the life sciences EU-LIFE unveiled a report to highlight the evolving role of Project Managers in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA).

The report recommends the Commission advances work on establishing clearer career paths for researchers, fostering institutional recognition, and encouraging individuals to network and advocate for the recognition of their profession.

Read the report here.

The German Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) has launched today the China Tech Observatory, a €460,000 three-year project supported by the German ministry for education and research.

The initiative will study China's progress in key technologies like AI, semiconductors, biotechnology, green technologies, digital connectivity and quantum technology, providing insights to decision-makers in Germany and Europe.

"China is increasingly becoming a competitor and systemic rival in science and research,” said Bettina Stark-Watzinger, Germany’s minister for education and research. “The China Tech Observatory enables us to better assess the risks of cooperation with China, especially in areas in which we need to be particularly vigilant about protecting German and European interests."

The findings will be accessible on the MERICS website starting from today.

Read the announcement here.

The Federation of European Academies of Medicine (FEAM) and the UK Academy of Medical Sciences have released a report outlining recommendations for the upcoming EU R&I Framework Programme (FP10).

The group says a ringfenced budget would “fully capture the available potential in Europe and globally, to ensure stable conditions for research and innovation”.

Read the recommendations here.

The 2024 Global Innovation Index (GII) by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) highlights a slowdown in venture capital activity, R&D funding, and other key innovation indicators, reversing the boom seen between 2020 and 2022.

However, technological advances in areas like genome sequencing, electric batteries, and 5G adoption remained strong, signaling continued progress despite economic challenges.

The report also notes that Switzerland, Sweden, the US, Singapore, and the UK top the list of the world's most innovative economies, while China, Türkiye, India, Viet Nam, and the Philippines are the fastest climbers over the past decade. 

The full report is available here.